The European Commission has announced a plan to rally a wide variety of resources to address the increasing involvement of criminal elements in cyberattacks and the failure of European companies to seriously appreciate and address the cybersecurity issues.

"In the past hackers were motivated by a desire to show off, whereas today many threats come from criminal activities and are motivated by profit. What we need is a renewed strategy based on dialogue, partnership and empowerment," said EC Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding.

According to the plan, the EU’s Network and Information Security Agency will play a leading role. NISA, located in Greece, would work with the industry to lead efforts to develop appropriate policies and frameworks to handle cybersecurity and information misuse incidents within the 25-member EU.  The EU attributes most problems to to the lack of awareness of the security risks related to use of digital information technologies and the inability of, usually smaller groups, to understand and implement even basic information protection mechanisms.  According to the EC, an average of only 5 to 13 percent of the information technology budget is spent by companies on security measures. Although it is difficult to establish a benchmark of adequate and due diligence amount of spending, a range between 5 and 13 percent is inadequate.