2025/32 Weekly Update from the EU ISAC for Cities & Regions: Thank You Message for Annual Conference from Major Cities Europe / ENISA Threat Landscape for Public Administrations published / Buying cheap just sinks cyber security efforts / Are cyber resources actually cheap to get?
** For Back Issues see https://isac4cities.eu/blog **
The City ISAC (I4C+) is an Information and Analysis Centre whose members are IT and cyber security decision makers exchanging knowledge to improve their cities and collective cyber resilience. I4C+ is a Special Interest Group (SIG) hosted by Major Cities Europe (MCE). Dr. Oliver Schwabe is a member of MCE and in his function Chair of the ISAC for Cities Plus (I4C+). He is the person in charge of this effort on behalf of MCE and the responsible contact person. I4C+ is recognized by the European Agency for Cybersecurity ENISA. See https://isac4cities.eu/.
Thank You Message for Annual Conference from Major Cities Europe
To the participants and to those of you that could not join the conference,
Many thanks to the participants! Your presence, insights, and energy helped make it a truly inspiring event. I
If you could not participate this event coverage might be interesting.
The conference webpage at https://majorcities.eu/conferences/2025-issy/: includes among others;
- The video of the conference
- The summary of the debates
- The conference programme
- The speakers’ profiles
- The presentations with abstracts
- The photos
- Your feedbacks
- Call to join our MCE community
Over the course of our time together, we explored new ideas, shared interesting stories, and connected around a shared vision for the future of digital public services. From AI and cyber resilience to inclusive design, skills and agile leadership, the debates were rich and diverse.
The real impact begins now! Let’s move from reflection to action.
MCE: we are now finalising next year plan that shall include: workshops, webinars, hands on labs, the 2026 annual conference …. It will be announced at the beginning of next year
YOU: your feedbacks say that you have considered the conference of high value, especially for your job. Transform it into action:
· bring back in your organisation the conference insights into your teams and projects.
· stay connected and continue the dialogue with peers through our MCE Community.
· lead the change – champion innovation, inclusion, and collaboration in your organization.
Together, we’re not just imagining the future – we can build it!
If you are not yet a member, join the MCE community and let’s continue together the trip into Local Government innovation.Have a lookat the overall documentJoin MCE.
Let’s talk about the value of MCE and contact us at info@majorcities.eu.
Warm regards,
Giorgio
Giorgio Prister
President of MCE
Discussion Summary
Hi everyone, friends from Croatia, Ireland and Italy. We shared a quick update on our pilot for the DEP proposal (see https://isac4cities.eu/2025-31-weekly-update-from-the-eu-isac-for-cities-regions-dep-proposal-evolving-misp-of-misps-on-the-way-open-a-flower-shop-pa-cisos-might-quickly-replac) – confirming the first administrations interested, followed by a sort of laugh as one colleague shared that their administrations was now preparing to release over a 100 staff including such from the IT/security space. It was especially interesting to hear that while finding other positions in the market did not seem to be a problem, “real” salaries being offered are not particularly high, hmmmm….. Seems we are always talking about the need to find qualified resources (not those with “weekend certificates) and when we find them, the salary offers are not really convincing.
We then reflected whether we might just want to give up…. see https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/05/danish-authorities-in-rush-to-close-security-loophole-in-chinese-electric-buses (many other examples out there), where administrations buy assets that are insecure by default because they are cheapest (shall we discuss the concept of Total Cost of Ownership?). This reminded me of the common situation that the structure of our finance systems is actually the primary challenge, since budget structures are quite fragmented so that what appears to be a low-cost decision in one bucket, will massively drive costs in another. Hey ho… Ah yes, and then we realised that many “EU Products” that are costlier than non-EU products, already consist of non-EU components that are assembled in the EU -> trigger warning on the efforts to introduce cyber safe certifications!
We wrapped up with a good laugh about a major incident in the administration of a colleague, where some chocolate was stolen from the mayor´s office… Lots of resources seemed to go into the resolution… another #sigh….
So have a good week – we will be with ENISA in Athens for the EU ISACs get together on Monday / Tuesday and will update everyone next week.
Cheers,
Oliver
| In the News |
- The ENISA Threat Landscape for Public Administrations has been published – see https://www.enisa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2025-11/ENISA%20Public%20Administration%20TL%202024_0.pdf.
- Tuscany & Brittany Region invite to webinar on AI on 26 November – the webinar on “AI & Cybersecurity in regional and Local Authorities“, taking place on the 26th of November from 09:30 to 11:00. This session is a part of the Cyber Resilient Regions Community (CRR) initiative co-organized by ECSO with the Tuscany Region, Major Cities of Europe, and EU City ISAC I4C+. To register, please find the event page here. The session aims to provide clear, non-technical insights into the risks and opportunities of AI in cybersecurity, highlighting practical experiences and best practices to help Regional and Local authorities strengthen their cyber resilience. This webinar is open to all – regional authorities, companies, start-ups (technical teams/decision makers / topic-based – cyber enthusiasts).
- EU ISACs Summit, 10–11 November 2025, Athens: ENISA is pleased to announce the 2025 edition of the EU ISACs Summit, which will take place on 10 November (afternoon) – 11 November (full day) at ENISA premises in Athens. As in previous years, we plan to dedicate the first day to hearing updates and future plans, and the second day to a more interactive session or exercise. With plenty of time ahead, we would love to hear your ideas and suggestions for the agenda. Please share your input with us by 19 September.
- INVITATION to the 2025 European TLD ISAC Conference: Our friends at TLD ISAC are delighted to invite you to their 2025 edition of the European TLD ISAC Conference, which will take place on 20 November in Brussels. Under the overarching theme “Ensuring cyber resilience amidst shifting threats and geopolitical realities”, we will hear voices from across the political, policy, technical and operational spheres. Attendees will gain insights into how European stakeholders view and deal with the challenges arising from the unpredictable geopolitical situation and why collaboration is more important than ever. In our tech-focused sessions, speaker will dive into attack simulation and response strategies, intel sharing and monitoring practices, malware detection and vulnerability management approaches. As this is an invitation-only event, we encourage you to register early to receive the latest updates. If you are interested in joining, please contact me for registration details.
| ISAC Services (Member Funded) |
We have published our services at Services Offered – EU ISAC for Cities (isac4cities.eu). Please do review and consider reaching out to include such in your activities and budgets.
Note that emerging new services are related to managing the MISP platform (and onboarding) plus Barista.
Please remember you can reach the whole group via city-isac-i4c-tlpwhite@majorcities.eu. A dedicated group for those cities signing the NDAs is available separately.
Also note our LinkedIn organisational page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/eu-city-information-sharing-and-analysis-center-isac/ and our discussion group at https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12773643/. Do follow us / join.
Join our weekly Friday morning coffee chats from 9am-10am CET – feel free to come in your pyjamas. Let me know if you are missing an invite and I will send.
Thank you for the support, your City ISAC I4C+ Team.
Cheers and ever onwards
Oliver
Innovating our Future… Together
Chair City ISAC I4C+ / Dr. Oliver Schwabe.
Email: oliver.schwabe@isac4cities.eu Mobile: +49 (0) 1709053671. Web: https://i4c.isacs.eu/ & https://www.majorcities.eu/isac-for-cities-plus/