The European Commission has announced plans to build a Joint Cyber Unit to help fight large scale cyber-attacks conducted against EU member states.

The participants would be asked to provide operational resources for mutual assistance within the Joint Cyber Unit. This would allow them to “share best practice”, as well as information in real time on threats that could emerge in their respective areas.

“It will also work at an operational and at a technical level to deliver the EU Cybersecurity Incident and Crisis Response Plan, based on national plans; establish and mobilise EU Cybersecurity Rapid Reaction Teams; facilitate the adoption of protocols for mutual assistance among participants; establish national and cross-border monitoring and detection capabilities, including Security Operation Centres (SOCs); and more,” the European Commission said in a press release.

The Joint Cyber Unit will be comprised of professionals from EU Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), from EU countries, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, the EU foreign service EEAS and the European Defence Agency (EDA).

The Commission says that the Joint Cyber Unit will be operational by June 2022 and should be fully established by 2023. The new EU unit will be funded through the Commission’s program for digital technology.

ENISA, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, will act as secretariat for the preparatory phase and the EU cyber unit will operate close to the agency’s Brussels offices and the office of CERT-EU, the computer emergency response team for the EU entities.