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Picture: Tristan Schmurr (CC BY 2.0) 

Luxembourg saw “continuous growth” in cyberattacks between 2010 and 2016, with the Computer Incident Response Center Luxembourg recording 1,200 cases in 2016 alone.

Half of those attacks were attempted financial crimes, 40% were cyber-espionage and 10% were committed by activists.

Those figures were cited in a parliamentary response by Étienne Schneider, the LSAP deputy prime minister, and the DP finance minister, Pierre Gramegna, released on 18 September. The government was answering a question submitted by the CSV MPs Diane Adehm and Gilles Roth.

An unrelated study, released on 7 September by Website Builder Expert, found that the grand duchy is the 18th country most at risk of cybercrime in the EU. Luxembourg had a “cybercrime vulnerability score” of 32%, as did Austria, Belgium and Sweden. Malta (42%) was the most vulnerability in the EU28; Finland (29%) was the least.

The report looked at the number of residents who had been victims of cybercrime, virus and malware frequency, the nation’s commitment to cybersecurity and number of exposed internet connections in the country.

“C3”

Luxembourg’s Cybersecurity Competence Center (C3), run by a government-backed outfit called Smile, will launch later this month. The centre will tackle threat intelligence, training and testing, according to the C3 website.

The first pillar aims to collect strategic data and information to establish a knowledge network to identify illegitimate cyber activities. The second component will provide a programme of cybersecurity trainings to adapt to the diverse range of needs. The last pillar will be a test space for new product prototypes.