Gianluca D’Antonio Chairman of ISMS Forum Spain
	Cybersecurity has fully introduced in the political and social debate of our daily lives. It was not suddenly or unpredictable. Signs that something was changing in the way of looking at new technologies and their importance in the social, economic and political relationships were increasingly evident. Consulta este artículo en castellano.

Perhaps the turning point of this gradual change was the so called Arab Spring, at the end of 2010 with the Tunisian revolt and later the Egyptians. Social networks, connectivity and more generally the new communication and information channels revealed a strong and decisive factor in the organizational capacity of social groups involved in the conflict.

No wonder that Turkey has announced the forthcoming creation of a cyber security agency a few weeks after the start of the protests. Controlling cyberspace is becoming critical to ensure, among other things, the stability of the social climate of countries.

In the race for control of new technologies and cyberspace depends on them there are countries that have been more farsighted than others.

This is the case of the former Soviet Union, which has developed its own social networks such as Vkontarte, odnoklassniki, etc.

Another example of a country that has chosen to maintain control of social networks from the beginning and invest in developing their own media is China. Renren, Kaixin001, Qzone and 51.com, are just some of the many social networks that occupy the Asian giant cyberspace.

Social networks like Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter, to name a few of the most important actors, not only are tools of market analysis and sales channels. They themselves, due to their size and investment capabilities, are the largest research and development lab on big data that exists on Earth.

These companies are composed of a complex business network of advanced professional services, dedicated to the development of algorithms and analysis techniques to exploit exabytes of data pertaining to the millions of users that use their networks.

In this scenario, we could define by analogy as cyberspace arms race, Europe, until now, has been conspicuous by its absence or at least by its almost total dependence on technology “made outside of Europe”.

This lack of vision is being reflected in the lack of resources and capabilities, and can jeopardize the safety of the old continent. At the moment it is undoubtedly threatening its economic competitiveness in all business related to new technologies both on defense or civil side.

The European Cyber Security Strategy is more like a cyber exercise of will than an action plan for the implementation of policies aimed at developing the skills and governance framework necessary to ensure European citizens a cyberspace open, secure and safe.

It is unlikely that the Old Continent is able, as European cybersecurity plan mentions, «to develop industrial and technological resources needed on cybersecurity» without a strong commitment from all levels of government for the implementation of common practices and structures for cybersecurity and defense. These days we have seen as guarantees driven by the European privacy regulatory framework are vain pretensions more than real rights. And is that real rights in cyberspace can be secured only by controlling service providers and therefore the technology they use.

Keep on underestimatingthe importance of certain autonomy in the development of I+D+I  capabilities in the field of Cybersecurity, is a luxury that the European Union cannot allow herself without jeopardizing their future as an independent and autonomous society.