The Government will create the National Cybersecurity Center to prevent attacks on essential services

The Government will create the National Cybersecurity Center to protect information in fundamental services and sectors such as energy, transportation, the health sector or food manufacturing.

This was explained this Tuesday by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, in the press conference after the Council of Ministers, in which he reported on the approval in the first round of the draft Law on the Coordination and Governance of Cybersecurity, prepared together with the ministries of Defense and Digital Transformation and Public Service.

He highlighted that “the use of networks and information systems has become crucial for the development of the vast majority of our social and economic activities.” To this end, the proposed rule will incorporate into the Spanish legal system Directive 2022/2555 of the European Parliament, known as “NIS 2 Directive”, which seeks to guarantee a high common level of cybersecurity in the European Union.

The law will affect public and private entities with tax residence in Spain or that operate in the country in critical sectors such as energy, transportation, banking, health and digital infrastructures, among others.

Entities must carry out individualized assessments of their cyber risks and implement measures to increase the security of their networks, in addition to notifying the supervisory authority of any significant incident without delay.

The new National Cybersecurity Center will be in charge of directing and coordinating the entire mechanism, acting as a management authority in the event of possible crises. It will have three control authorities: Interior, Defense and the Ministry of Digital Transformation.