Calling for a European ‘digital border control’

The head of Deutsche Telekom’s cybersecurity division, Thomas Tschersich, called for a new ‘digital border control’ for the European Union. The border should disable Internet access to ‘hostile actors’ and protect Europe’s internal market. Tschersich said that Europe is too reliant on ‘access to external services’ and lacks its own infrastructure to be able to disconnect from Asia or the Americas in case of a large-scale cyberattack. The opponents of a ‘digital border’ point out that closing down a part of the Internet should never be the main policy tool and have called the proposal ‘drastic’. They added that instead, the EU should ensure stronger cooperation EU-wide, implementation of legislation (such as the Network Information Security Directive), as well as better coordination among national agencies.