As the amount of data shared through cloud solutions continues to increase so does the concern about privacy and cyber security, which becomes more and more relevant on both the private and the professional level. The demand for harmonization within the European Union has created a package of new proposed legislation. This event will focus on the ambition to tackle cyber security, particularly from a cloud computing perspective.

Possible discussion points:

• To what extent can cloud computing play a role in creating economic growth?
• There is an outspoken ambition of EU policy makers to decrease cyber crime. How far will the legislation go to obtain this goal?
• What should be the next steps? What is needed on the upcoming legislative agenda?
• What is needed at the EU-level to increase cyber security capabilities in the Member States while enabling to gain full advantage of cloud computing?
• A lack of harmonizing is usually mentioned as a hinder when it comes to data protection. What will the main challenges be in the process towards harmonizing?
• To what extent is the European legislative agenda compatible with initiatives taken in the US?
• How can the EU ensure a safe Internet without compromising personal privacy, efficiency and well-functioning services? 

Speaker line-up:

Jan Philipp Albrecht Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur on the Data Protection Regulation

Jakub Boratyński Head of Unit H4 - Trust and Security, DG CNECT, European Commission

Andreas Ebert Regional Technology Officer, Microsoft

Chris Muyldermans Counsel Regulatory Affairs, Corporate Public Affairs, KBC Group NV

Martina Ferracane Policy Analyst, ECIPE - European Centre for International Political Economy

Moderator: Dr Jamal Shahin Post-doctoral researcher and assistant professor in European Studies, University of Amsterdam