European Union’s Cyber Diplomacy Toolbox: Enhancing cyber resilience through coordinated diplomatic action

Abstract

In this changing security environment, the European Union (EU) has developed the Cyber Diplomacy Toolbox, a comprehensive instrument that brings together diplomatic engagement, laws, strategic communication, restrictive measures, capacity development and international cooperation to support the EU's collective cyber security for collective cyber resilience. While the Toolbox is a significant development in the EU's external cybersecurity policy, it is unclear how effective it will be in practice, how it will fit into the EU's institutional framework and how it will be able to counter the fast-changing nature of cyber threats, both state and non-state, that are emerging from outside the EU. Although much scholarship has focused on specific elements of EU cyber diplomacy or cybersecurity governance, few have critically explored the Cyber Diplomacy Toolbox as a cohesive diplomatic tool to support the strengthening of cyber resilience in the region in a complex geopolitical context.