Testing and Certification Capabilities

Outcomes and deliverables

The funding is expected to:

• Strengthen national cybersecurity certification authorities, conformity assessment bodies and accreditation bodies.
• Improve the cybersecurity and interoperability testing capabilities in all Member States, including in the area of 5G disaggregated and open solutions.
• Support SMEs to audit their infrastructure in view of improving their cybersecurity protection.
• Support actions in the area of standardisation.

The objective of this topic is to increase and facilitate security and interoperability testing capabilities and certification of connected ICT systems. This aims to improve the capabilities and cooperation of cybersecurity certification stakeholders in line with the objectives of Regulation (EU) 2019/881 (“Cybersecurity Act”).

Funding will be available for activities aiming to:

• Support capacity building for national cybersecurity certification authorities, conformity assessment bodies and accreditation bodies including for thread-led penetration testing; e.g. for the acquisition of certification testbeds; exchange of best practices and staff trainings; deploy innovative evaluation methods for specific ICT products or components; support standardisation actions (e.g. creation of protection profiles or adoption/improvement of standards used in certification schemes). This shall take into account activities in National Coordination Centres where relevant.
• Support SMEs to test and certify ICT products, ICT services or ICT process they sell. The priority will be given to proposals demonstrating a positive impact in sectors affected by the COVID-19 crisis (e.g. health sector).
• Provide support for SME users of ICT equipment to audit their infrastructures in term of cybersecurity resilience.
• Support standardisation actions (e.g. creation of protection profiles or adoption/improvement of standards used in certification schemes), taking into account activities by European and international standardisation organisations as appropriate.
• Support cyber-security and interoperability testing capabilities on 5G disaggregated and open solutions.

Where relevant, support will focus on certification schemes under the Cybersecurity Act, while it could also be available for technical areas not yet covered by schemes under the Cybersecurity Act.