EU flags are seen outside the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, Jan 6, 2023. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

BRUSSELS - The European Commission on Tuesday announced a 1.1-billion-euro ($1.2 billion) plan to counter growing cybersecurity threats, underscoring mounting concerns about a series of high-profile hacking incidents.

The growing use of cyber warfare in the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine has also triggered alarm.

The plan also includes setting up a EU Cybersecurity Reserve consisting of incident response services which will intervene at the request of an EU country or institution in the event of a significant or large-scale cybersecurity incident

"The EU Cyber Solidarity Act will strengthen solidarity at Union level to better detect, prepare for and respond to significant or large-scale cybersecurity incidents, by creating a European Cybersecurity Shield and a comprehensive Cyber Emergency Mechanism," the EU executive said in a statement.

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The Shield will be made up of national and cross-border Security Operations Centres which will use state-of-the-art technology, such as artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics, to detect cross-border cyber threats and incidents.

The Cyber Emergency Mechanism will test entities in highly critical sectors such as healthcare, transport and energy for potential vulnerabilities.

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The plan also includes setting up a EU Cybersecurity Reserve consisting of incident response services which will intervene at the request of an EU country or institution in the event of a significant or large-scale cybersecurity incident.

The Cyber Solidarity Act will require agreement from EU countries and the European Parliament before it can become law.