The ESRIF (European Security Research and Innovation Forum) final report was recently released and it is now available here. The ESRIF strategy group was setup by the European Commission with the support of the European community to examine the civil security of Europe. Of particular interest to CoMiFin was Working Group 2: Security of Critical Infrastructures. The consideration of financial infrastructure as a key critical infrastructure for Europe was again highlighted (in Topic 8). The level of importantance of financial infrastructure was reflected by finance being included in WG2 sub-groups and WG2 panels.

From the report: "critical infrastructures protection research should place emphasis on risk management, including prediction, prevention, ensuring service continuity and rapid recovery in the event of an incident. Security characteristics therefore should be designed to increase systemic and inherent resilience."

This ethos is summed up nicely: "In three words, what critical infrastructures in Europe need is a culture of resilience". The role of the CoMiFin project in protecting Financial Critical Infrastructure places it at the heart of a resiliant and survivable Europe.