International Relations
The CCB maintains bilateral relations with its counterparts in different countries and with various stakeholders. Furthermore, the CCB coordinates the Belgian representation in international cybersecurity fora while following up on international commitments and on proposals of national positions in this area.
At a European level
The CCB monitors EU laws and initiatives in the field of cybersecurity to ensure they are implemented in Belgium in a way which is consistent with the National Cybersecurity Strategy. These laws and initiatives include the Network and Information Systems (NIS) Directive, the Cyber Security Act (CSA), the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), the Cyber Diplomacy Toolbox … and several other initiatives which have a cybersecurity component such as the Artificial Intelligence Act or the Digital Decade Programme.
The Belgian NIS Act of 7 April 2019 designated the CCB as the Single Point of Contact for cybersecurity under the NIS Directive. In this capacity, the CCB represents Belgium in the NIS Cooperation Group and in its various sub-working groups.
The CCB’s Director General is a member of the management board of ENISA, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity.
Operating under the auspices of the CCB, the Belgian National Cybersecurity Certification Authority (NCCA-BE), represents Belgium in the European Cybersecurity Certification Group (ECCG), established under the Cybersecurity Act (CSA), and in ENISA's ad hoc working groups in which new certification schemes are prepared.
The CCB also acts as the National Coordination Centre (NCC) for Belgium as part of a new European management framework consisting of the European Centre of Excellence (in Bucharest) - and a Network of 27 National Coordination Centres - one in each Member State - created with European Regulation (EU) 2021/887 of 20 May 2021. This management framework aims to pool and better coordinate investments in cybersecurity research, technology and industrial development in the Union.
The CCB acts as an expert in support of Belgium’s Permanent Representation to the EU in the Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues (HWPCI) within the Council of the European Union, or in other relevant EU fora.
The CCB is a member of the European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO), the European Commission’s private counterpart in the implementation of the contractual public-private partnership (cPPP) on cybersecurity.
On an international level
The CCB is Belgium’s operational Point of Contact for the Informal Working Group on Cyberspace within the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). In this working group, participating states work together to develop Confidence Building Measures, including in the area of cybersecurity. In June 2020, Belgium announced its adoption of OSCE Confidence-Building Measure 14 (CBM 14), as established in the Permanent Council Decision No. 1202. Participating States agree to promote public-private partnerships and develop mechanisms to exchange best practices of responses to common security challenges stemming from the use of ICTs. The CCB supports with technical knowledge the work of Belgium to implement CBM14.
The CCB represents Belgium as a member of the Global Forum for Cyber Expertise (GFCE), a worldwide platform for countries, international organisations and private companies to exchange best practices and expertise in cyber capacity-building.
If requested, the CCB provides expertise to Belgium’s representations to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United Nations (UN) in the area of cybersecurity.
Where appropriate, the CCB also participates in the relevant cybersecurity debates within the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
The CCB represents Belgium in the Counter-Ransomware Initiative (CRI) initiated by the US and participates in the International CRI Task Force (ICRTF).
The CCB also works with other Belgian or international agencies to support capacity-building projects. One of our latest projects involves cooperation with Niger, whereby the CCB supports Enabel, the Federal Agency for cooperation development, with technical knowledge.
At an operational level
The NIS Act of 7 April 2019 designated the CCB as the national Cyber Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT). The Belgian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT.be), an operational department of the CCB, is acting as CSIRT. Through CERT.be, the CCB is represented in various operational forums, such as the EU CSIRT network, the European Government CERTs Group (EGC), FIRST, TF-CSIRT and CyCLONe, the Cyber Crisis Liaison Organisation Network.
The CCB also participates in international exercises, such as Cyber Europe, which is organised every two years by ENISA.