Preamble Recitals

With regard to DNS service providers means an entity that provides: publicly available recursive domain name resolution services for internet end-users; or authoritative domain name resolution services for third-party use, with the exception of root name servers;, TLD name registries, cloud computing service means a digital service that enables on-demand administration and broad remote access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable computing resources, including where such resources are distributed across several locations; providers, data centre service means a service that encompasses structures, or groups of structures, dedicated to the centralised accommodation, interconnection and operation of IT and network equipment providing data storage, processing and transport services together with all the facilities and infrastructures for power distribution and environmental control; providers, content delivery network means a network of geographically distributed servers for the purpose of ensuring high availability, accessibility or fast delivery of digital content and services to internet users on behalf of content and service providers; providers, managed service providers means an entity that provides services related to the installation, management, operation or maintenance of ICT products, networks, infrastructure, applications or any other network and information systems, via assistance or active administration carried out either on customers’ premises or remotely;, managed security service providers means a managed service provider that carries out or provides assistance for activities relating to cybersecurity risk management;, providers of online market places, of online search engines means an online search engine as defined in Article 2, point (5), of Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 of the European Parliament and of the Council (^32^); Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on promoting fairness and transparency for business users of online intermediation services (OJ L 186, 11.7.2019, p. 57). and of social networking services platforms means a platform that enables end-users to connect, share, discover and communicate with each other across multiple devices, in particular via chats, posts, videos and recommendations;, and trust service providers means a trust service provider as defined in Article 3, point (19), of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014; as covered by Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2022/2555 (the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;), this Regulation aims to lay down the technical and the methodological requirements of the measures referred to in Article 21(2) of Directive (EU) 2022/2555 and to further specify the cases in which an incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; should be considered to be significant as referred to in Article 23(3) of Directive (EU) 2022/2555.

Taking account of the cross-border nature of their activities and in order to ensure a coherent framework for trust service providers means a trust service provider as defined in Article 3, point (19), of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014;, this Regulation should, with respect to trust service providers means a trust service provider as defined in Article 3, point (19), of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014;, further specify the cases in which an incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; shall be considered to be significant, in addition to laying down the technical and the methodological requirements of the cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; risk-management measures.

Following Article 21(5), third subparagraph of Directive (EU) 2022/2555, the technical and methodological requirements of the cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; risk-management measures set out in the Annex to this Regulation are based on European and international standards means an international standard as defined in Article 2, point (1)(a), of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012;, such as ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27002 and ETSI EN 319401, and technical specifications means a technical specification as defined in Article 2, point (4), of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012;, such as CEN/TS 18026:2024, relevant to the security of network and information systems means the ability of network and information systems to resist, at a given level of confidence, any event that may compromise the availability, authenticity, integrity or confidentiality of stored, transmitted or processed data or of the services offered by, or accessible via, those network and information systems;.

As regards the implementation and application of the technical and the methodological requirements of cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; risk-management measures set out in the Annex to this Regulation, in line with the principle of proportionality, due account should be taken of the divergent risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; exposure of relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;, such as the criticality of the relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;, the risks means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; to which it is exposed, the relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’s size and structure as well as the likelihood of occurrence of incidents means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; and their severity, including their societal and economic impact, when complying with the technical and methodological requirements of cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; risk-management measures set out in the Annex to this Regulation.

In line with the principle of proportionality, where relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; cannot implement some of the technical and the methodological requirements of the cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; risk-management measures due to their size, those entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should be able to take other compensating measures that are suitable to achieve the purpose of those requirements. For example, when defining roles, responsibilities and authorities for network and information system means: an electronic communications network as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972; any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a programme, carry out automatic processing of digital data; or digital data stored, processed, retrieved or transmitted by elements covered under points (a) and (b) for the purposes of their operation, use, protection and maintenance; security within the relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;, micro-sized entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; might find it difficult to segregate conflicting duties and conflicting areas of responsibility. Such entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should be able to consider compensating measures such as targeted oversight by the entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’s management or increased monitoring and logging.

Certain technical and methodological requirements set out in the Annex to this Regulation should be applied by the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; where appropriate, where applicable, or to the extent feasible. Where a relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; considers it not appropriate, not applicable or not feasible for the relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; to apply certain technical and methodological requirements as provided for in the Annex to this Regulation, the relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should in a comprehensible manner document its reasoning to that effect. National competent authoritiesas defined in Article 46 may, when exercising supervision, take into account the appropriate time required for the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; to implement the technical and the methodological requirements of the cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; risk-management measures.

ENISA or national competent authoritiesas defined in Article 46 under Directive (EU) 2022/2555 can provide guidance to support relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; in the identification, analysis, and assessment of risks means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; for the purpose of implementing the technical and the methodological requirements concerning the establishment and maintenance of an appropriate risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; management framework. Such guidance can include, in particular, national and sectoral risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; assessments as well as risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; assessments specific for a certain type of entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;. The guidance may also include tools or templates for the development of risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; management framework at the level of the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;. Frameworks, guidance or other mechanisms provided by Member States’ national law, as well as relevant European and international standards means an international standard as defined in Article 2, point (1)(a), of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012;, can also support relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; in demonstrating compliance with this Regulation. Moreover, ENISA or national competent authoritiesas defined in Article 46 under Directive (EU) 2022/2555 can support relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; in identifying and implementing appropriate solutions to treat risks means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; identified in such risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; assessments. Such guidance should be without prejudice to the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’ obligation to identify and document the risks means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; posed to the security of network and information systems means the ability of network and information systems to resist, at a given level of confidence, any event that may compromise the availability, authenticity, integrity or confidentiality of stored, transmitted or processed data or of the services offered by, or accessible via, those network and information systems;, and to the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’ obligation to implement the technical and the methodological requirements of the cybersecurity risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; management measures set out in the Annex to this Regulation according to their needs and resources.

Network security measures in relation to: (i) the transition towards latest generation network layer communication protocols, (ii) the deployment of internationally agreed and interoperable modern email communications standards means a standard as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (^29^); Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on European standardisation, amending Council Directives 89/686/EEC and 93/15/EEC and Directives 94/9/EC, 94/25/EC, 95/16/EC, 97/23/EC, 98/34/EC, 2004/22/EC, 2007/23/EC, 2009/23/EC and 2009/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council decision 87/95/EEC and Decision No 1673/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 316, 14.11.2012, p. 12)., and (iii) the application of best practices for DNS security, and for internet routing security and routing hygiene entail specific challenges regarding the identification of best available standards means a standard as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (^29^); Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on European standardisation, amending Council Directives 89/686/EEC and 93/15/EEC and Directives 94/9/EC, 94/25/EC, 95/16/EC, 97/23/EC, 98/34/EC, 2004/22/EC, 2007/23/EC, 2009/23/EC and 2009/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council decision 87/95/EEC and Decision No 1673/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 316, 14.11.2012, p. 12). and deployment techniques. To achieve as soon as possible a high common level of cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; across networks, the Commission, with the assistance of the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; (ENISA) and in collaboration with competent authoritiesas defined in Article 46, industry – including telecommunication industry – and other stakeholders, should support the development of a multistakeholder forum tasked to identify these best available standards means a standard as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (^29^); Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on European standardisation, amending Council Directives 89/686/EEC and 93/15/EEC and Directives 94/9/EC, 94/25/EC, 95/16/EC, 97/23/EC, 98/34/EC, 2004/22/EC, 2007/23/EC, 2009/23/EC and 2009/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council decision 87/95/EEC and Decision No 1673/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 316, 14.11.2012, p. 12). and deployment techniques. Such multi-stakeholder guidance should be without prejudice to the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’ obligation to implement the technical and the methodological requirements of the cybersecurity risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; management measures set out in the Annex to this Regulation.

Pursuant to Article 21(2), point (a), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555, essential and important entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should have, besides policies on risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; analysis, policies on information system security. For that purpose, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should establish a policy on the security of network and information systems means the ability of network and information systems to resist, at a given level of confidence, any event that may compromise the availability, authenticity, integrity or confidentiality of stored, transmitted or processed data or of the services offered by, or accessible via, those network and information systems; as well as topic-specific policies, such as policies on access control, which should be coherent with the policy on the security of network and information systems means the ability of network and information systems to resist, at a given level of confidence, any event that may compromise the availability, authenticity, integrity or confidentiality of stored, transmitted or processed data or of the services offered by, or accessible via, those network and information systems;. The policy on the security of network and information systems means the ability of network and information systems to resist, at a given level of confidence, any event that may compromise the availability, authenticity, integrity or confidentiality of stored, transmitted or processed data or of the services offered by, or accessible via, those network and information systems; should be the highest-level document setting out the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’ overall approach to their security of network and information systems means the ability of network and information systems to resist, at a given level of confidence, any event that may compromise the availability, authenticity, integrity or confidentiality of stored, transmitted or processed data or of the services offered by, or accessible via, those network and information systems; and should be approved by the management bodies means a management body as defined in Article 4(1), point (36), of Directive 2014/65/EU, Article 3(1), point (7), of Directive 2013/36/EU, Article 2(1), point (s), of Directive 2009/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (^31^), Article 2(1), point (45), of Regulation (EU) No 909/2014, Article 3(1), point (20), of Regulation (EU) 2016/1011, and in the relevant provision of the Regulation on markets in crypto-assets, or the equivalent persons who effectively run the entity or have key functions in accordance with relevant Union or national law; Directive 2009/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) (OJ L 302, 17.11.2009, p. 32). of the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;. The topic-specific policies should be approved by an appropriate level of management. The policy should lay down indicators and measures to monitor its implementation and the current status of relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’ maturity level of network and information security, in particular to facilitate the oversight of the implementation of the cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; risk-management measures through the management bodies means a management body as defined in Article 4(1), point (36), of Directive 2014/65/EU, Article 3(1), point (7), of Directive 2013/36/EU, Article 2(1), point (s), of Directive 2009/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (^31^), Article 2(1), point (45), of Regulation (EU) No 909/2014, Article 3(1), point (20), of Regulation (EU) 2016/1011, and in the relevant provision of the Regulation on markets in crypto-assets, or the equivalent persons who effectively run the entity or have key functions in accordance with relevant Union or national law; Directive 2009/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) (OJ L 302, 17.11.2009, p. 32)..

For the purposes of the technical and the methodological requirements laid down in the Annex to this Regulation, the term ‘user’ should encompass all legal and natural persons which have access to the entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’s network and information systems means: an electronic communications network as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972; any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a programme, carry out automatic processing of digital data; or digital data stored, processed, retrieved or transmitted by elements covered under points (a) and (b) for the purposes of their operation, use, protection and maintenance;.

To identify and address the risks means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; posed to the security of network and information systems means the ability of network and information systems to resist, at a given level of confidence, any event that may compromise the availability, authenticity, integrity or confidentiality of stored, transmitted or processed data or of the services offered by, or accessible via, those network and information systems;, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should establish and maintain an appropriate risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; management framework. As a part of the risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; management framework, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should establish, implement and monitor a risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; treatment plan. The relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; may use the risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; treatment plan to identify and prioritise risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; treatment options and measures. Options for risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; treatment include, in particular, avoiding, reducing or, in exceptional cases, accepting the risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident;. The choice of risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; treatment options should take into account the results of the risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; assessment carried out by the relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;, and be in accordance with the relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’s policy on the security of network and information systems means the ability of network and information systems to resist, at a given level of confidence, any event that may compromise the availability, authenticity, integrity or confidentiality of stored, transmitted or processed data or of the services offered by, or accessible via, those network and information systems;. To give effect to the chosen risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; treatment options, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should take the appropriate risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; treatment measures.

To detect events, near misses and incidents means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should monitor their network and information systems means: an electronic communications network as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972; any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a programme, carry out automatic processing of digital data; or digital data stored, processed, retrieved or transmitted by elements covered under points (a) and (b) for the purposes of their operation, use, protection and maintenance; and should take actions to evaluate events, near misses and incidents means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;. Those measures should be capable of allowing the detection of network-based attacks based on anomalous inbound and outbound traffic patterns and denial of service attacks in a timely manner.

When the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; conduct a business impact analysis, they are encouraged to carry out a comprehensive analysis establishing, as appropriate, maximum tolerable downtime, recovery time objectives, recovery point objectives and service delivery objectives.

In order to mitigate risks means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; stemming from a relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’s supply chain and its relationship with its suppliers, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should establish a supply chain security policy which governs their relations with their direct suppliers and service providers. These entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should specify in the contracts with their direct suppliers or service providers adequate security clauses, for example by requiring, where appropriate, cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; risk-management measures according to Article 21(2) of Directive (EU) 2022/2555 or other similar legal requirements.

The relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should regularly carry out security tests based on a dedicated policy and procedures to verify whether the cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; risk-management measures are implemented and function properly. Security tests may be performed on specific network and information systems means: an electronic communications network as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972; any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a programme, carry out automatic processing of digital data; or digital data stored, processed, retrieved or transmitted by elements covered under points (a) and (b) for the purposes of their operation, use, protection and maintenance; or on the relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; as a whole and may include automated or manual tests, penetration tests, vulnerability means a weakness, susceptibility or flaw of a product with digital elements that can be exploited by a cyber threat; scanning, static and dynamic application security tests, configuration tests or security audits. The relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; may conduct security tests on their network and information systems means: an electronic communications network as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972; any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a programme, carry out automatic processing of digital data; or digital data stored, processed, retrieved or transmitted by elements covered under points (a) and (b) for the purposes of their operation, use, protection and maintenance; at set-up, after infrastructure or application upgrades or modifications that they deem significant, or after maintenance. The findings of the security tests should inform the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’ policies and procedures to assess the effectiveness of the cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; risk-management measures, as well as independent reviews of their network and information security policies.

In order to avoid significant disruption and harm caused by the exploitation of unpatched vulnerabilities means a weakness, susceptibility or flaw of a product with digital elements that can be exploited by a cyber threat; in network and information systems means: an electronic communications network as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972; any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a programme, carry out automatic processing of digital data; or digital data stored, processed, retrieved or transmitted by elements covered under points (a) and (b) for the purposes of their operation, use, protection and maintenance;, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should set out and apply appropriate security patch management procedures which are aligned with the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’ change management, vulnerability means a weakness, susceptibility or flaw of a product with digital elements that can be exploited by a cyber threat; management, risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; management and other relevant procedures. Relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should take measures proportionate to their resources to ensure that security patches do not introduce additional vulnerabilities means a weakness, susceptibility or flaw of a product with digital elements that can be exploited by a cyber threat; or instabilities. In case of planned inaccessibility to the service caused by the application of security patches, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; are encouraged to duly inform customers in advance.

The relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should manage the risks means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; stemming from the acquisition of ICT products means an ICT product as defined in Article 2, point (12), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; or ICT services means digital and data services provided through ICT systems to one or more internal or external users on an ongoing basis, including hardware as a service and hardware services which includes the provision of technical support via software or firmware updates by the hardware provider, excluding traditional analogue telephone services; from suppliers or service providers and should obtain assurance that the ICT products means an ICT product as defined in Article 2, point (12), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; or ICT services means digital and data services provided through ICT systems to one or more internal or external users on an ongoing basis, including hardware as a service and hardware services which includes the provision of technical support via software or firmware updates by the hardware provider, excluding traditional analogue telephone services; to be acquired achieve certain cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; protection levels, for example by European cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; certificates and EU statements of conformity for ICT products means an ICT product as defined in Article 2, point (12), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; or ICT services means digital and data services provided through ICT systems to one or more internal or external users on an ongoing basis, including hardware as a service and hardware services which includes the provision of technical support via software or firmware updates by the hardware provider, excluding traditional analogue telephone services; issued under a European cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; certification scheme adopted pursuant to Article 49 of Regulation (EU) 2019/881 of the European Parliament and of the Council (²)Regulation (EU) 2019/881 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on ENISA (the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity) and on information and communications technology cybersecurity certification and repealing Regulation (EU) No 526/2013 (Cybersecurity Act) (OJ L 151, 7.6.2019, p. 15, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2019/881/oj).. Where the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; set out security requirements to apply to the ICT products means an ICT product as defined in Article 2, point (12), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; to be acquired, they should take into account the essential cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; requirements set out in a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on horizontal cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; requirements for products with digital elements means a software or hardware product and its remote data processing solutions, including software or hardware components being placed on the market separately;.

In order to protect against cyber threats means a cyber threat as defined in Article 2, point (8), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; and support the prevention and containment of data breaches, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should implement network security solutions. Typical solutions for network security include the use of firewalls to protect the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’ internal networks, the limitation of connections and access to services where connections and access are absolutely needed, and the use of virtual private networks for remote access and allowing connections of service providers only after an authorisation request and for a set time period such as the duration of a maintenance operation.

In order to protect the networks of the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; and their information systems against malicious and unauthorised software means the part of an electronic information system which consists of computer code;, those entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should implement controls that prevent or detect the use of unauthorised software means the part of an electronic information system which consists of computer code; and should, where appropriate, use detection and response software means the part of an electronic information system which consists of computer code;. The relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should also consider implementing measures to minimize the attack surface, reduce vulnerabilities means a weakness, susceptibility or flaw of a product with digital elements that can be exploited by a cyber threat; that can be exploited by attackers, control the execution of applications on endpoints, and deploy email and web application filters to reduce exposure to malicious content.

Pursuant to Article 21(2), point (g), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555, Member States are to ensure that essential and important entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; apply basic cyber hygiene practices and cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; training. Basic cyber hygiene practices can include zero-trust principles, software means the part of an electronic information system which consists of computer code; updates, device configuration, network segmentation, identity and access management or user awareness, organise training for their staff and raise awareness concerning cyber threats means a cyber threat as defined in Article 2, point (8), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881;, phishing or social engineering techniques. Cyber hygiene practices are a part of different technical and methodological requirements of the cybersecurity risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; management measures set out in the Annex to this Regulation. With regard to basic cyber hygiene practices for users, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should consider practices such as clear desk and screen policy, use of multi-factor and other authentication means, safe email use and web browsing, protection from phishing and social engineering, secure remote working practices.

In order to prevent unauthorised access to the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’ assets, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should establish and implement a topic-specific policy addressing access by persons and by network and information systems means: an electronic communications network as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972; any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a programme, carry out automatic processing of digital data; or digital data stored, processed, retrieved or transmitted by elements covered under points (a) and (b) for the purposes of their operation, use, protection and maintenance;, such as applications.

In order to avoid that employees can misuse, for instance, access rights within the relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; to harm and cause damage, relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should consider adequate employee security management measures and raise awareness among personnel about such risks means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident;. The relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should establish, communicate and maintain a disciplinary process for handling violations of the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’ network and information system means: an electronic communications network as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972; any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a programme, carry out automatic processing of digital data; or digital data stored, processed, retrieved or transmitted by elements covered under points (a) and (b) for the purposes of their operation, use, protection and maintenance; security policies, which may be embedded in other disciplinary processes established by the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;. Verification of the background of the employees and where applicable the direct suppliers and service providers of the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should contribute to the goal of human resources security in the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;, and may include measures such as checks of the person’s criminal record or past professional duties, as appropriate for the person’s duties in the relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; and in line with the relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’s policy on the security of network and information systems means the ability of network and information systems to resist, at a given level of confidence, any event that may compromise the availability, authenticity, integrity or confidentiality of stored, transmitted or processed data or of the services offered by, or accessible via, those network and information systems;.

Multi-factor authentication can enhance the entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’ cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; and should be considered by the entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; in particular when users access network and information systems means: an electronic communications network as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972; any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a programme, carry out automatic processing of digital data; or digital data stored, processed, retrieved or transmitted by elements covered under points (a) and (b) for the purposes of their operation, use, protection and maintenance; from remote locations, or when they access sensitive information or privileged accounts and system administration accounts. Multi-factor authentication can be combined with other techniques to require additional factors under specific circumstances, based on predefined rules and patterns, such as access from an unusual location, from an unusual device or at an unusual time.

The relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should manage and protect the assets which are of value to them through a sound asset management which should also serve as the basis for the risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; analysis and business continuity management. The relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should manage both tangible and intangible assets and should create an asset inventory, associate the assets with a defined classification level, handle and track the assets and take steps to protect the assets throughout their lifecycle.

Asset management should involve classifying assets by their type, sensitivity, risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; level, and security requirements and applying appropriate measures and controls to ensure their availability, integrity, confidentiality, and authenticity. By classifying assets by risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; level, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should be able to apply appropriate security measures and controls to protect assets such as encryption, access control including perimeter and physical and logical access control, backups, logging and monitoring, retention and disposal. When conducting a business impact analysis, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; may determine the classification level based on the consequences of disruption of assets for the entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;. All employees of the entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; handling assets should be familiar with the asset handling policies and instructions.

The granularity of the asset inventory should be appropriate for the needs of the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;. A comprehensive asset inventory could include, for each asset, at least a unique identifier, the owner of the asset, a description of the asset, the location of the asset, the type of asset, the type and classification of information processed in the asset, the date of last update or patch of the asset, the classification of the asset under the risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; assessment, and the end of life of the asset. When identifying the owner of an asset, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should also identify the person responsible for protecting said asset.

The allocation and organisation of cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; roles, responsibilities and authorities should establish a consistent structure for the governance and implementation of cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; within the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;, and should ensure effective communication in case of incidents means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;. When defining and assigning responsibilities for certain roles, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should consider roles such as chief information security officer, information security officer, incident handling means any actions and procedures aiming to prevent, detect, analyse, and contain or to respond to and recover from an incident; officer, auditor, or comparable equivalents. Relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; may assign roles and responsibilities to external parties, such as ICT third-party service providers means an undertaking providing ICT services;.

In accordance with Article 21(2) of Directive (EU) 2022/2555, the cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; risk-management measures are to be based on an all-hazards approach that aims to protect network and information systems means: an electronic communications network as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972; any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a programme, carry out automatic processing of digital data; or digital data stored, processed, retrieved or transmitted by elements covered under points (a) and (b) for the purposes of their operation, use, protection and maintenance; and the physical environment of those systems from events such as theft, fire, flood, telecommunication or power failures, or unauthorised physical access and damage to, and interference with, an essential or important entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’s information and information processing facilities, which could compromise the availability, authenticity, integrity or confidentiality of stored, transmitted or processed data or of the services offered by, or accessible via, network and information systems means: an electronic communications network as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972; any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a programme, carry out automatic processing of digital data; or digital data stored, processed, retrieved or transmitted by elements covered under points (a) and (b) for the purposes of their operation, use, protection and maintenance;. The technical and the methodological requirements of the cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; risk-management measures should therefore also address the physical and environmental security of network and information systems means the ability of network and information systems to resist, at a given level of confidence, any event that may compromise the availability, authenticity, integrity or confidentiality of stored, transmitted or processed data or of the services offered by, or accessible via, those network and information systems; by including measures to protect such systems from system failures, human error, malicious acts or natural phenomena. Further examples of physical and environmental threats can include earthquakes, explosions, sabotage, insider threat, civil unrest, toxic waste, and environmental emissions. Prevention of loss, damage or compromise of network and information systems means: an electronic communications network as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972; any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a programme, carry out automatic processing of digital data; or digital data stored, processed, retrieved or transmitted by elements covered under points (a) and (b) for the purposes of their operation, use, protection and maintenance; or interruption to their operations due to the failure and disruption of supporting utilities should contribute to the goal of business continuity in the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;. Moreover, protection against physical and environmental threats should contribute to security of network and information systems means the ability of network and information systems to resist, at a given level of confidence, any event that may compromise the availability, authenticity, integrity or confidentiality of stored, transmitted or processed data or of the services offered by, or accessible via, those network and information systems; maintenance in the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;.

Relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should design and implement protection measures against physical and environmental threats and determine minimum and maximum control thresholds for physical and environmental threats and monitor environmental parameters. For example, they should consider installing systems to detect at an early stage the flooding of areas where network and information systems means: an electronic communications network as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972; any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a programme, carry out automatic processing of digital data; or digital data stored, processed, retrieved or transmitted by elements covered under points (a) and (b) for the purposes of their operation, use, protection and maintenance; are located. Regarding fire hazard, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should consider the establishment of a separate fire compartment for the data centre, the use of fire-resistant materials, sensors for monitoring temperature and humidity, the connection of the building to a fire alarm system with an automated notification to the local fire department, and early fire detection and extinguishing systems. The relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should also carry out regular fire drills and fire inspections. Furthermore, to ensure power supply, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should consider overvoltage protection and corresponding emergency power supply, in accordance with relevant standards means a standard as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (^29^); Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on European standardisation, amending Council Directives 89/686/EEC and 93/15/EEC and Directives 94/9/EC, 94/25/EC, 95/16/EC, 97/23/EC, 98/34/EC, 2004/22/EC, 2007/23/EC, 2009/23/EC and 2009/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council decision 87/95/EEC and Decision No 1673/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 316, 14.11.2012, p. 12).. Moreover, as overheating poses a risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; to the availability of network and information systems means: an electronic communications network as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972; any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a programme, carry out automatic processing of digital data; or digital data stored, processed, retrieved or transmitted by elements covered under points (a) and (b) for the purposes of their operation, use, protection and maintenance;, relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;, in particular data centre service means a service that encompasses structures, or groups of structures, dedicated to the centralised accommodation, interconnection and operation of IT and network equipment providing data storage, processing and transport services together with all the facilities and infrastructures for power distribution and environmental control; providers, could consider adequate, continuous and redundant air conditioning systems.

This Regulation is to further specify the cases in which an incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; should be considered to be significant for the purpose of Article 23(3) of Directive (EU) 2022/2555. The criteria should be such that relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; are able to assess whether an incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; is significant, in order to notify the incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; in accordance with Directive (EU) 2022/2555. Furthermore, the criteria set out in this Regulation should be considered exhaustive, without prejudice to Article 5 of Directive (EU) 2022/2555. This regulation specifies the cases in which an incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; should be considered to be significant by setting out horizontal as well as entity-type specific cases.

Pursuant to Article 23(4) of Directive (EU) 2022/2555, relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should be required to notify significant incidents means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; within the deadlines set by that provision. Those notification deadlines are running from the moment the entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; becomes aware of such significant incidents means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;. The relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; is therefore required to report incidents means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; that, based on its initial assessment, could cause severe operational disruption of the services or financial loss for that entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; or affect other natural or legal persons by causing considerable material or non-material damage. Therefore, when a relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; has detected a suspicious event, or after a potential incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; has been brought to its attention by a third party, such as an individual, a customer, an entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;, an authority, a media organisation, or another source, the relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should assess in a timely manner the suspicious event to determine whether it constitutes an incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; and, if so, determine its nature and severity. The relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; is therefore to be regarded as having become ‘aware’ of the significant incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; when, after such initial assessment, that entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; has a reasonable degree of certainty that a significant incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; has occurred.

With a view to establishing whether an incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; is significant, where relevant, relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should count the number of users impacted by the incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;, taking into consideration business and end customers with whom the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; have a contractual relationship as well as natural and legal persons that are associated with business customers. Where a relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; is unable to calculate the number of impacted users, the relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’s estimate of the possible maximum number of affected users should be considered for the purpose of calculating the total number of users affected by the incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;. The significance of an incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; involving a trust service means a trust service as defined in Article 3, point (16), of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014; should not only be determined by the number of users but also by the number of relying parties as these can be equally affected by a significant incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; involving a trust service means a trust service as defined in Article 3, point (16), of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014; in regard to operational disruption and material or non-material damage. Therefore, trust service providers means a trust service provider as defined in Article 3, point (19), of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014; should, where applicable, also take into account the number of relying parties when establishing whether an incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; is significant. For that purpose, relying parties should be understood as natural or legal persons that rely upon a trust service means a trust service as defined in Article 3, point (16), of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014;.

Maintenance operations resulting in the limited availability or unavailability of the services should not be considered as significant incidents means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; if the limited availability or unavailability of the service occurs according to a scheduled maintenance operation. Moreover, where a service is unavailable due to scheduled interruptions such as interruptions or non-availability based on pre-determined contractual agreement should not be considered as significant incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;.

The duration of an incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; which impacts availability of a service should be measured from the disruption of the proper provision of such service until the time of recovery. Where a relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; is unable to determine the moment when the disruption began, the duration of the incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; should be measured from the moment the incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; was detected, or from the moment when the incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; was recorded in network or system logs or other data sources, whichever is earlier.

Complete unavailability of a service should be measured from the moment the service is fully unavailable to users, to the moment when regular activities or operations have been restored to the level of service that was provided prior to the incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;. Where a relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; is unable to determine when the complete unavailability of a service began, the unavailability should be measured from the moment it was detected by that entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;.

For the purpose of determining the direct financial losses resulting from an incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;, relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should take into account all the financial losses which they have incurred as a result of the incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;, such as costs for replacement or relocation of software means the part of an electronic information system which consists of computer code;, hardware means a physical electronic information system, or parts thereof capable of processing, storing or transmitting digital data; or infrastructure, staff costs, including costs associated with replacement or relocation of staff, recruitment of extra staff, remuneration of overtime and recovery of lost or impaired skills, fees due to non-compliance with contractual obligations, costs for redress and compensation to customers, losses due to forgone revenues, costs associated with internal and external communication, advisory costs, including costs associated with legal counselling, forensic services and remediation services, and other costs associated to the incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;. However, administrative fines, as well as costs that are necessary for the day-to-day operation of the business, should not be considered as financial losses resulting from an incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;, including costs for general maintenance of infrastructure, equipment, hardware means a physical electronic information system, or parts thereof capable of processing, storing or transmitting digital data; and software means the part of an electronic information system which consists of computer code;, keeping skills of staff up to date, internal or external costs to enhance the business after the incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;, including upgrades, improvements and risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; assessment initiatives, and insurance premiums. The relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should calculate the amounts of financial losses based on available data and, where the actual amounts of financial losses cannot be determined, the entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should estimate those amounts.

Relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should also be obliged to report incidents means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; that have caused or are capable of causing the death of natural persons or considerable damage to natural persons’ health as such incidents means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; are particularly serious cases of causing considerable material or non-material damage. For instance, an incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; affecting a relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; could cause unavailability of healthcare or emergency services, or the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data with an effect on the health of natural persons. For the purpose of determining whether an incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; has caused or is capable of causing considerable damage to a natural person’s health, relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should take into account whether the incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; caused or is capable of causing severe injuries and ill-health. For that purpose, the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should not be required to collect additional information to which they do not have access.

Limited availability should be considered to occur in particular when a service provided by a relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; is considerably slower than average response time, or where not all functionalities of a service are available. Where possible, objective criteria based on the average response times of services provided by the relevant entities means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations; should be used to assess delays in response time. A functionality of a service may be, for instance, a chat functionality or an image search functionality.

Successful, suspectedly malicious and unauthorised access to a relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’s network and information systems means: an electronic communications network as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972; any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a programme, carry out automatic processing of digital data; or digital data stored, processed, retrieved or transmitted by elements covered under points (a) and (b) for the purposes of their operation, use, protection and maintenance; should be regarded as a significant incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;, where such access is capable of causing severe operational disruption. For instance, where a cyber threat means a cyber threat as defined in Article 2, point (8), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; actor pre-positions itself in a relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’s network and information systems means: an electronic communications network as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972; any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a programme, carry out automatic processing of digital data; or digital data stored, processed, retrieved or transmitted by elements covered under points (a) and (b) for the purposes of their operation, use, protection and maintenance; with a view to causing disruption of services in the future, the incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; should be considered to be significant.

Recurring incidents means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; that are linked through the same apparent root cause, which individually do not meet the criteria of a significant incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;, should collectively be considered to be a significant incident means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;, provided that they collectively meet the criterion for financial loss, and that they have occurred at least twice within six months. Such recurring incidents means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; can indicate significant deficiencies and weaknesses in the relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;’s cybersecurity risk means the potential for loss or disruption caused by an incident and is to be expressed as a combination of the magnitude of such loss or disruption and the likelihood of occurrence of the incident; management procedures and their level of cybersecurity means cybersecurity as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2019/881; maturity. Moreover, such recurring incidents means an incident as defined in Article 6, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555; are capable of causing significant financial loss for the relevant entity means a natural or legal person created and recognised as such under the national law of its place of establishment, which may, acting under its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations;.

The Commission has exchanged advice and cooperated with the Cooperation Group means a group as defined in Article 2, point (11), of Directive 2013/34/EU; and ENISA on the draft implementing act, in accordance with Articles 21(5) and 23(11) of Directive (EU) 2022/2555.

The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (³)Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2018/1725/oj)., and delivered its opinion on 1 September 2024.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the committee established in accordance with Article 39 of Directive (EU) 2022/2555,