18.05.2022 - On 18 May 2022, the Federal Council took note of the report on the effectiveness assessment of the "2018-2022 national strategy for the protection of Switzerland against cyber-risks (NCS)" and decided to create a further 25 positions in the area of protection against cyber-risks. He also decided to turn the NCSC into a federal office, and instructed the Federal Department of Finance FDF to prepare proposals by the end of 2022 regarding how the office should be structured and which department it should be part of.
Cybersecurity has become increasingly important at all levels in recent years. Back in 2019, the Federal Council laid an important foundation stone by creating the NCSC, which is part of the FDF General Secretariat. Since then, the NCSC has evolved considerably.
Therefore, the Federal Council examined how the NCSC can be managed as an independent organisation in the future, analysing various options, such as outsourcing the NCSC from the central Federal Administration, establishing joint operation with the cantons or transforming the NCSC into a public-private partnership. It concluded that, as cybersecurity is an important task in terms of state policy, it should continue to be managed directly by a Federal Councillor. It also wishes to strengthen the NCSC and turn it into a Federal Cybersecurity Office.
Positive verdict regarding the implementation of the strategy
The implementation of the current national cyberstrategy will be completed at the end of 2022. In the meantime, the strategy will be renewed and geared towards the current threat situation. This work will be based on the effectiveness assessment of the current strategy, which was carried out in the second half of 2021. The verdict was positive overall. It is being implemented according to plan and has led to decisive results. Based on the results of the effectiveness assessment, the Federal Council has decided to further expand the resources for protection against cyber-risks. It has approved a total of 25 positions for this purpose, ten of which will be in the NCSC.
Documents
The documents are available in German, French, Italian.
