The EU’s networks had quite the year: 188 reportable telecom incidents—a record count—yet users spent barely half as long waiting for the lights to come back on compared with 2023. It seems Europe’s digital plumbers are fixing leaks faster, even as the pipes keep springing new ones.
The chief culprits remain stubbornly familiar: system failures (60 %) and human error (19 %). Mother Nature got feisty too, flooding ducts and battering masts to cause nine-times last year’s disruption. Malicious attacks accounted for only 8 %—though one particularly splashy episode left a major pan-European carrier suddenly shy of making connections. We won’t name names, but let’s just say it involved a well-groomed equine and prompted plenty of neigh-saying from customers.
Germany, for its part, mirrors the continental picture: high alert and high cost, with its Federal Office for Information Security warning of a “worrying” threat level and cybercrime damages running to well over a hundred billion euro annually—proof that even the EU’s industrial powerhouse is not bullet-proof.
If that paints the telecoms picture, ENISA’s State of Cybersecurity in the Union 2024 pans out to the whole digital realm. Its verdict? Threat level “substantial”. Ransomware and DDoS attacks lead the charge, hacktivists are on a creative streak, and supply-chain compromises are the fashionable mischief of the day. Add a geopolitical backdrop of hot wars, cold disinformation and AI-enhanced fakery, and it’s clear the continent’s cyber weather is decidedly changeable.
Still, there is progress. The EU Cybersecurity Index clocks in at 62.65/100, showing decent convergence among Member States. Citizens have upped their cyber hygiene (93 % say they’ve changed how they use the Internet for safety), but only 46 % have basic digital skills, leaving room for, shall we say, a national refresher course. On the policy front, NIS2, the Cyber Resilience Act and the upcoming Cyber Solidarity Act give Brussels more levers to pull than ever—if they can all be pulled in unison.
So, the 2024 snapshot is classic British “good news / could-do-better”: more incidents reported, but fewer hours lost; stronger laws, but evolving foes. Europe’s digital defences are stiffening their upper lip. And while the occasional mystery outage may still have customers champing at the bit, the overall direction is, dare we say, jolly encouraging.
CU at it-sa – Home of IT Security in October at booth 7A-619 in hall 7A
Sources: https://www.enisa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2025-07/ENISA_Telecom_Security_Incidents_2024_en_1.pdf,
https://www.enisa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2024-11/2024%20Report%20on%20the%20State%20of%20the%20Cybersecurity%20in%20the%20Union.pdf
*This article was created with the help of ChatGPT in consideration of current market events. The prompt creation and supervision of the article was carried out by the author, who sees his opinion represented herein.
Michael Martens is CEO of RIEDEL Networks and author of numerous technical articles, industry statements and commentaries in relevant publications. With a clear view of technological developments and their impact on the economy and society, he regularly classifies current topics and takes a stand on key issues relating to digital infrastructure.
From time to time, however, his fingers get itchy: then he leaves traditional specialist communication and picks up on current market events in the form of a gloss or satirical commentary. With subtle irony and a penchant for exaggeration, he scrutinizes industry-specific trends, political decisions and technological absurdities - always with the aim of providing food for thought and questioning familiar perspectives with a wink.
For these excursions into satirical commentary, he occasionally draws on the support of ChatGPT - always with his own conceptual control, editorial revision and clear responsibility for content.
His contributions deliberately operate at the interface between specialist knowledge and humor - and invite readers to view even complex topics from an unusual perspective.
RIEDEL Networks is a privately held, global network provider focused on customized networks. We are listed in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Global WAN Services as a niche provider specializing in mid-sized international enterprises and the media and events sector. With our own global backbone, we help companies to be connected worldwide. Our services include internet connectivity, MPLS, SD-WAN, SASE, Cloud Connect, security and much more. Our customers come from various industries and value quality, security and reliability. RIEDEL Networks is a 100% company of the RIEDEL Communications Group in Wuppertal, Germany, and is fully privately owned by Thomas Riedel.