EU Cyber Shield Remains Non-Operational After €1.4B Investment, Auditors Warn
The European Court of Auditors (ECA) found that the EU’s €1.4 billion cybersecurity investment has failed to produce a functional early-warning system. The ATHENA and ENSOC alert hubs remain non-operational due to procurement delays and missing technical standards. Auditors identified poor information-sharing as the system's 'Achilles heel,' noting that no member state has classified an incident as 'large-scale' since 2016, meaning the EU’s crisis-escalation procedure has never been fully activated. The report also highlights overlapping mandates between ENISA and the Commission’s cyber situation centre, and warns that funding recipients are not independently vetted for hostile state influence.