Following the completion of the mission in Mozambique this March, the Lithuanian-coordinated European Union Cyber Rapid Response Teams (CRRT) can be used as a standing capability for internal EU needs as well as in support of EU partners and the EU Common Security and Defence Policy missions and operations.
On March 28–29 representatives of the MoD Cybersecurity and IT Policy Group and the National Cyber Security Centre of Excellence were on a visit to Zagreb, capital of Croatia, to attend the annual meeting of Lithuanian-coordinated CRRTs under the EU Permanent Structure Cooperation (PESCO) framework.
The meeting featured presentation of one of the latest CRRT achievements, the vulnerability assessment carried out in the European Union Training Mission in Mozambique, EUTM-Moz, this March, which was also the first test of CRRT capabilities in the EU Common Security and Defence Policy missions and operations.
Another highlight was the successful vulnerability assessment in Moldova in 2022. Part of the CRRT expert capability was deployed on the ground and part joined digitally. This opens the door for testing the capability not only in support of member states and participants of the project, EU authorities, agencies and institutions, but also EU partners.
One of the key activities of a EU CRRT is its constant development through refinement of the procedures and practices applied in the capability. To that end, the annual meeting in Zagreb was also attended by representatives of the enterprise consortium that designed the cyber toolkit for the CRRTs for a strategic but also practical technical discussion.
The meeting marked the beginning of the next, fifth rotation, which will be led by Croatia. The number of CRRT projects participants increased from 6 to 8 this March with the joining of Belgium and Slovenia.
Currently a CRRT comprises 8-12 cybersecurity experts delegated at national level by eight EU member states – Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia. The team is capable of offering assistance in managing a cyber-incident or carrying out prevention (vulnerability assessments, elections observation, etc.).
Established in 2018, the Lithuanian-coordinated PESCO Cyber Rapid Response Teams and Mutual Assistance in Cyber Security project is among the most successfully developed and most advanced PESCO projects.
