Cyber Resilience in the EU: Leveraging NIS2 to Mitigate Threats

In 2016, the NIS Directive emerged as a response to the increasing frequency, sophistication, and impact of cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure and essential services across the European Union (EU). However, over the past eight years, technological advancements have accelerated growth and improved efficiency for many organizations. This progress has also inadvertently expanded the landscape for cyber adversaries to exploit. To combat these challenges, the EU implemented the NIS2 requirements in January 2023, reinforcing the importance of consistent cybersecurity measures and the enhancement of resilience for businesses throughout the EU.

Cyber Threats Pushing the Need For Regulation Changes:

The following are some the core threat vectors that have driven this change:

Ransomware as a Service: The 2024 Verizon Data Breach Investigations  Report (DBIR)  report explains that in 2023, ransomware was involved in 32% of all data breaches across industries, with extortion techniques accounting for 9% of breaches. Ransom demands often ranged from a few thousand to over $1 million, with ransomware attacks costing businesses globally over $20 billion in 2022 alone​​ as detailed in the 2024 Gurucul Insider Threat Report.

Nation-State Threats: Geopolitical tensions have further exacerbated the threat landscape. State-sponsored groups frequently target critical infrastructure, exploiting vulnerabilities in sectors like energy, finance, and public administration. The 2024 DBIR found state-sponsored espionage incidents rising to 7% of breaches​.

Supply Chain Attacks: Most critically, supply chain attacks have become a significant cybersecurity concern, with 15% of breaches in 2023 involving vulnerabilities within third-party networks – a 68% increase from the previous year​. These attacks often exploit weak links in partner systems, as seen in the MOVEit breach, which compromised over 8,000 global organizations through exploited software vulnerabilities​. The growing complexity of IT environments further enhances these risks, with many organizations relying on third-party providers that may lack robust security measures​.

The Adoption of AI: The emergence of generative AI has introduced new risks as well. Enabling cybercriminals to refine phishing campaigns, create sophisticated malware, and exploit vulnerabilities faster than ever. As AI adoption grows, these technologies amplify cyber criminal capabilities, with 65% of security leaders envisaging an exponential increase in the use of offensive AI in 2025.

Mandatory public disclosures really underline the scale of this threat. Between 2022 and 2023, 10,626 confirmed data breaches were reported, a record high across 94 countries. The public sector accounted for 25% of attacks, followed by finance and manufacturing, underscoring the broad industry impact​ according to the DBIR report.

A Quick Look at the New NIS2 Requirements:

NIS2 widens the range of covered sectors, including energy, transport, healthcare, and digital infrastructure. Medium and large organizations in these industries are now obligated to comply. This extended coverage ensures more entities adopt robust consistent cybersecurity practices. Helping to leverage further resiliency in organizations and their supply chains throughout Europe.

To meet NIS2 requirements, the directive has expanded its scope to include organizations classified as “essential” or “important”, spanning both public and private sectors. Classification into these categories is determined by the organization’s size and sector.

The key takeaways of NIS2 are centered on:

• Enhancing risk awareness and cyber resilience: Promoting robust cybersecurity practices within organizations and across their supply chains to address evolving threats effectively.
• Streamlining incident response and communication: Ensuring significant incidents are promptly reported to CSIRT authorities within a 24-hour timeframe to facilitate efficient mitigation and coordination.
• Fostering comprehensive cybersecurity training: Equipping both management and individual employees with the knowledge and skills necessary to uphold strong security standards.

Steps Toward Cybersecurity Resilience

Enhanced visibility and threat detection using AI and automation

NIS2 requirements emphasize the need for comprehensive audit trails following a breach. A core part of Gurucul’s Next-Gen SIEM is User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA). Utilizing machine learning and AI to first establish a baseline of activity across users, devices, and systems. Then understand anomalies through in-depth analysis of behavioral patterns. This capability enables the platform to generate comprehensive audit trail by maintaining detailed logs of activities. These baselines provide a reference point to detect deviations that may indicate potential threats, such as insider activity or compromised accounts. By delivering precise and actionable insights, Gurucul ensures organizations maintain robust auditability and compliance with NIS2 requirements. 

• UEBA: Gurucul’s platform leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence to monitor and log user activities across systems and applications. This continuous monitoring establishes behavioral baselines, enabling the detection of anomalies that may indicate security incidents or policy violations. By maintaining detailed records and timelines of user interactions, organizations can fulfill NIS2’s mandate for thorough audit trails.
• Detailed Audit Logs: The platform generates extensive logs that capture critical information such as:
• Event timestamps: Recording when specific actions occurred.
• User identities: Identifying which users performed particular actions.
• Accessed resources: Documenting files, records, or systems that were accessed.
• Performed actions: Detailing operations like data modifications or deletions.

These logs provide a transparent record of system and user activities, essential for compliance audits and forensic investigations.

• Advanced Analytics for Incident Reconstruction: In the event of a security incident, Gurucul’s analytics facilitate the reconstruction of events by correlating data from various sources. This capability helps identify the sequence of actions leading to an incident, supporting root cause analysis and demonstrating compliance with NIS2’s requirements for incident documentation.
• Compliance Reporting: Gurucul offers reporting tools that align with regulatory standards, enabling organizations to generate compliance reports that detail security measures and incident responses. These reports are crucial for demonstrating adherence to NIS2 during regulatory reviews.
• Integration and Flexibility: The platform’s open architecture allows seamless integration with existing security infrastructure, ensuring that audit trails encompass data from diverse systems and applications. This comprehensive approach ensures that all relevant activities are monitored and recorded, as required by NIS2.

By providing these capabilities, Gurucul enables organizations to maintain the detailed audit trails mandated by the NIS2 Directive, thereby enhancing transparency, accountability, and compliance in their cybersecurity practices.

 

Impactful Threat Mitigation

There is an underlying emphasis for any organization under NIS2 requirements to work toward continuous cyber resilience. This mandate pushes organizations to understand their environment and strive toward a program of improving their mitigation and recovery workflows.  Gurucul’s threat mitigation combine advanced analytics with real-time risk scoring to proactively address security threats, playing a pivotal role in supporting NIS2-driven resilience. The platform assigns dynamic risk scoring for users, entities, and devices based on factors like behavioral deviations, access patterns, and system vulnerabilities. So, for example, high-risk scores can trigger automated responses, such as isolating assets or escalating alerts. While more detailed playbooks can be implemented for more comprehensive strategies. By design Gurucul’s intuitive dashboards provide clear, actionable insights into risk levels. Helping security teams prioritize threats and implement targeted mitigation strategies efficiently in line with NIS2.

 

 

Flexible organizational reporting

NIS2 places responsibility for cybersecurity at the executive level. Gurucul supports this by offering customized executive dashboards that deliver high-level insights into security performance, compliance status, and emerging risks. These tools empower leaders to make data-driven decisions, demonstrate accountability, and foster a culture of cybersecurity awareness across the organization. Additionally, automated compliance tracking ensures senior executives have real-time visibility into gaps or progress toward meeting NIS2 requirements.

 

A path for holistic learning

The NIS2 Directive mandates continuous education in cybersecurity for personnel at all organizational levels. Gurucul’s Subject Matter Expert (SME AI) uses natural language to allow any user to conduct searches, understand threats or risk or produce reports, using simple language. Additionally, each AI-driven anomaly is accompanied with detailed insights, helping analysts answer the key questions during an investigation. These insights enable seamless communication across all levels, ensuring a shared and comprehensive understanding of the threats and risks involved.

 

Conclusion:

The evolving threat landscape has made robust cybersecurity measures a necessity, not a choice. The NIS2 Directive, introduced in January 2023, addresses the challenges posed by modern cyber threats, from ransomware to AI-driven attacks. By mandating enhanced risk awareness, streamlined incident response, audit trails and continuous training, NIS2 aims to fortify organizations and their supply chains across the EU.

Gurucul’s advanced security analytic platform REVEAL aligns seamlessly with NIS2 requirements, offering AI-powered threat detection, risk scoring, and intuitive dashboards to empower organizations. With tools designed to enhance visibility, automate responses, and foster a culture of cybersecurity awareness, Gurucul helps organizations not only comply with NIS2 but also achieve a higher standard of resilience.

As the cybersecurity landscape continues to evolve, investing in adaptive, AI-driven platforms like Gurucul ensures that businesses can effectively mitigate risks, respond to incidents, and build a secure future.

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