Standards for Cyber Security

Standards play a key role in improving cyber defense and cyber security across different geographical regions and communities. Standardizing processes and procedures is also essential to achieve effective cooperation in cross-border and cross-community environments. The number of standards development organizations and the number of published information security standards have increased in recent years, creating significant challenges. Nations are using standards to meet a variety of objectives, in some cases imposing standards that are competing and contradictory, or excessively restrictive and not interoperable. Other standards favor companies that are already dominant in their field. The European Union, with the support of ENISA, has started to include standards in its strategies and policies, but much remains to be done. The development and use of standards is necessary, timely, and requires the involvement of public and private sector actors working in tandem.