Genesis of the notion “cybersecurity” in the fuel and energy sector of the European Union: Legal analysis

Abstract

This paper analyzes cybersecurity as a legal institution, gives its detailed theoretical and legal characteristics. The purpose of this study is to analyze the legal acts, and in particular the criminal law, in order to summarize the existing regulations related to the means of ensuring cybersecurity in the European Union (EU), the study of this institution, both in general
and in relation to individual industries, first of all, to the fuel and energy complex. When writing this work, both doctrinal and non-doctrinal methods were used, including: comparative legal and historical-legal methods, as well as macro-comparison and micro-comparison, normative comparison. Based on the results of the study, the authors came to the following
conclusions: cybersecurity, like other concepts related to information technology, cannot have a single regulatory fixation due to the nature of such phenomena; at the moment, the priority task of the state authorities of the EU and member states is to create a regulatory framework for the regulation of cybercrime and other threats to cybersecurity and develop legal means and methods to ensure it; among all areas where cybersecurity is necessary, special attention should be paid to the fuel and energy complex, since this sector is inextricably linked not only with national security and welfare, but can also affect other countries, which seems to be especially relevant within the framework of a single internal market European Union. Thus, information technologies have a significant impact on modern society, and ensuring the protection of society from traditional crimes committed using information systems or new types of crimes that are inherently associated with digital devices seems to be one of the most
important tasks of each state.

Keywords:

cybersecurity, European law, cybercrime, critical infrastructure, criminal law, legal measures, cyber threats, energy sector