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Chapter IV – Cybersecurity risk-management measures and reporting obligations (Art. 20-25)

Art. 20 NIS2 - Governance arrow_right_alt

Art. 21 NIS2 - Cybersecurity risk-management measures arrow_right_alt

  1. Member States shall ensure that essential and important entities take appropriate and proportionate technical, operational and organisational measures to manage the risks posed to the security of network and information systems which those entities use for their operations or for the provision of their services, and to prevent or minimise the impact of incidents on recipients of their services and on other services.

Taking into account the state-of-the-art and, where applicable, relevant European and international standards, as well as the cost of implementation, the measures referred to in the first subparagraph shall ensure a level of security of network and information systems appropriate to the risks posed. When assessing the proportionality of those measures, due account shall be taken of the degree of the entity’s exposure to risks, the entity’s size and the likelihood of occurrence of incidents and their severity, including their societal and economic impact.

  1. The measures referred to in paragraph 1 shall be based on an all-hazards approach that aims to protect network and information systems and the physical environment of those systems from incidents, and shall include at least the following:
    1. policies on risk analysis and information system security;
    2. incident handling;
    3. business continuity, such as backup management and disaster recovery, and crisis management;
    4. supply chain security, including security-related aspects concerning the relationships between each entity and its direct suppliers or service providers;
    5. security in network and information systems acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling and disclosure;
    6. policies and procedures to assess the effectiveness of cybersecurity risk-management measures;
    7. basic cyber hygiene practices and cybersecurity training;
    8. policies and procedures regarding the use of cryptography and, where appropriate, encryption;
    9. human resources security, access control policies and asset management;
    10. the use of multi-factor authentication or continuous authentication solutions, secured voice, video and text communications and secured emergency communication systems within the entity, where appropriate.
  2. Member States shall ensure that, when considering which measures referred to in paragraph 2, point (d), of this Article are appropriate, entities take into account the vulnerabilities specific to each direct supplier and service provider and the overall quality of products and cybersecurity practices of their suppliers and service providers, including their secure development procedures. Member States shall also ensure that, when considering which measures referred to in that point are appropriate, entities are required to take into account the results of the coordinated security risk assessments of critical supply chains carried out in accordance with Article 22(1).
  3. Member States shall ensure that an entity that finds that it does not comply with the measures provided for in paragraph 2 takes, without undue delay, all necessary, appropriate and proportionate corrective measures.
  4. By 17 October 2024, the Commission shall adopt implementing acts laying down the technical and the methodological requirements of the measures referred to in paragraph 2 with regard to DNS service providers, TLD name registries, cloud computing service providers, data centre service providers, content delivery network providers, managed service providers, managed security service providers, providers of online market places, of online search engines and of social networking services platforms, and trust service providers.

The Commission may adopt implementing acts laying down the technical and the methodological requirements, as well as sectoral requirements, as necessary, of the measures referred to in paragraph 2 with regard to essential and important entities other than those referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph.

When preparing the implementing acts referred to in the first and second subparagraphs of this paragraph, the Commission shall, to the extent possible, follow European and international standards, as well as relevant technical specifications. The Commission shall exchange advice and cooperate with the Cooperation Group and ENISA on the draft implementing acts in accordance with Article 14(4), point (e).

Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 39(2).

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  • 77
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  • 98

Recital 77

Responsibility for ensuring the security of network and information system lies, to a great extent, with essential and important entities. A culture of risk management, involving risk assessments and the implementation of cybersecurity risk-management measures appropriate to the risks faced, should be promoted and developed.

Recital 78

Cybersecurity risk-management measures should take into account the degree of dependence of the essential or important entity on network and information systems and include measures to identify any risks of incidents, to prevent, detect, respond to and recover from incidents and to mitigate their impact. The security of network and information systems should include the security of stored, transmitted and processed data. Cybersecurity risk-management measures should provide for systemic analysis, taking into account the human factor, in order to have a complete picture of the security of the network and information system.

Recital 79

As threats to the security of network and information systems can have different origins, cybersecurity risk-management measures should be based on an all-hazards approach, which aims to protect network and information systems 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’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. The cybersecurity risk-management measures should therefore also address the physical and environmental security of network and information systems by including measures to protect such systems from system failures, human error, malicious acts or natural phenomena, in line with European and international standards, such as those included in the ISO/IEC 27000 series. In that regard, essential and important entities should, as part of their cybersecurity risk-management measures, also address human resources security and have in place appropriate access control policies. Those measures should be consistent with Directive (EU) 2022/2557.

Recital 80

For the purpose of demonstrating compliance with cybersecurity risk-management measures and in the absence of appropriate European cybersecurity certification schemes adopted in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/881 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1), Member States should, in consultation with the Cooperation Group and the European Cybersecurity Certification Group, promote the use of relevant European and international standards by essential and important entities or may require entities to use certified ICT products, ICT services and ICT processes.


(1) 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).

Recital 81

In order to avoid imposing a disproportionate financial and administrative burden on essential and important entities, the cybersecurity risk-management measures should be proportionate to the risks posed to the network and information system concerned, taking into account the state-of-the-art of such measures, and, where applicable, relevant European and international standards, as well as the cost for their implementation.

Recital 82

Cybersecurity risk-management measures should be proportionate to the degree of the essential or important entity’s exposure to risks and to the societal and economic impact that an incident would have. When establishing cybersecurity risk-management measures adapted to essential and important entities, due account should be taken of the divergent risk exposure of essential and important entities, such as the criticality of the entity, the risks, including societal risks, to which it is exposed, the entity’s size and the likelihood of occurrence of incidents and their severity, including their societal and economic impact.

Recital 83

Essential and important entities should ensure the security of the network and information systems which they use in their activities. Those systems are primarily private network and information systems managed by the essential and important entities’ internal IT staff or the security of which has been outsourced. The cybersecurity risk-management measures and reporting obligations laid down in this Directive should apply to the relevant essential and important entities regardless of whether those entities maintain their network and information systems internally or outsource the maintenance thereof.

Recital 84

Taking account of their cross-border nature, DNS service providers, TLD name registries, cloud computing service providers, data centre service providers, content delivery network providers, managed service providers, managed security service providers, providers of online marketplaces, of online search engines and of social networking services platforms, and trust service providers should be subject to a high degree of harmonisation at Union level. The implementation of cybersecurity risk-management measures with regard to those entities should therefore be facilitated by an implementing act.

Recital 85

Addressing risks stemming from an entity’s supply chain and its relationship with its suppliers, such as providers of data storage and processing services or managed security service providers and software editors, is particularly important given the prevalence of incidents where entities have been the victim of cyberattacks and where malicious perpetrators were able to compromise the security of an entity’s network and information systems by exploiting vulnerabilities affecting third-party products and services. Essential and important entities should therefore assess and take into account the overall quality and resilience of products and services, the cybersecurity risk-management measures embedded in them, and the cybersecurity practices of their suppliers and service providers, including their secure development procedures. Essential and important entities should in particular be encouraged to incorporate cybersecurity risk-management measures into contractual arrangements with their direct suppliers and service providers. Those entities could consider risks stemming from other levels of suppliers and service providers.

Recital 86

Among service providers, managed security service providers in areas such as incident response, penetration testing, security audits and consultancy play a particularly important role in assisting entities in their efforts to prevent, detect, respond to or recover from incidents. Managed security service providers have however also themselves been the target of cyberattacks and, because of their close integration in the operations of entities pose a particular risk. Essential and important entities should therefore exercise increased diligence in selecting a managed security service provider.

Recital 87

The competent authorities, in the context of their supervisory tasks, may also benefit from cybersecurity services such as security audits, penetration testing or incident responses.

Recital 98

In order to safeguard the security of public electronic communications networks and publicly available electronic communications services, the use of encryption technologies, in particular end-to-end encryption as well as data-centric security concepts, such as cartography, segmentation, tagging, access policy and access management, and automated access decisions, should be promoted. Where necessary, the use of encryption, in particular end-to-end encryption should be mandatory for providers of public electronic communications networks or of publicly available electronic communications services in accordance with the principles of security and privacy by default and by design for the purposes of this Directive. The use of end-to-end encryption should be reconciled with the Member States’ powers to ensure the protection of their essential security interests and public security, and to allow for the prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of criminal offences in accordance with Union law. However, this should not weaken end-to-end encryption, which is a critical technology for the effective protection of data and privacy and the security of communications.

Art. 22 NIS2 - Union level coordinated security risk assessments of critical supply chains arrow_right_alt

Art. 23 NIS2 - Reporting obligations arrow_right_alt

Art. 24 NIS2 - Use of European cybersecurity certification schemes arrow_right_alt

Art. 25 NIS2 - Standardisation arrow_right_alt