By Hamid Chriet, French-British cybersecurity expert.
Cyber threats ignore borders, ideology, and trade agreements. In a world where data has become a strategic weapon, digital security is now as important as energy or defense issues. However, despite this evidence, Europe and the UK are still often moving forward in a disjointed manner. First, lock in the rules; the other, driven by his operational pragmatism. It is time to consider a new approach: that of alliance cybersecurity, based on complementarity and not separation.
Since Brexit, many people believe that the UK’s departure marks the end of the joint digital project. This is an analysis error. In fact, the cyber threats facing Paris, Berlin and London are similar. Whether an attack targets supply chains, critical infrastructure, or health data, the nature of the risk remains the same, and often the injured parties are the same. The illusion of isolated security does not apply. Post-Brexit cybersecurity must not be a one-man race, but rather a field of agile cooperation between countries with shared values, interests and vulnerabilities.
The British and European models are of course different, but they complement each other. The UK has been able to develop, through the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), a realistic, collaborative and results-oriented approach. This structure has become a model for international response, particularly in crisis management and intelligence sharing with the private sector. The European Union has made progress in other areas: regulation and building common frameworks. The NIS2 Directive and the Cyber Resilience Act reflect the desire to standardize security requirements across the continent, to implement a culture of prevention and transparency.
These two philosophies, UK agility and European regulation should not conflict with each other, but rather reinforce each other. Together, they can form a coherent approach: a cybersecurity alliance, pragmatic in its implementation, and demanding of standards. This model will be able to address the dual challenges facing European democracies: protecting their infrastructure while maintaining their technological autonomy.
Because the real danger today is not just attacks. It lies in dependency. Dependence on foreign technology, on the American cloud, on security solutions designed outside the continent. In this respect, Europe and the UK share a common fragility: namely dependence, often for convenience, on non-European actors whose interests do not always align with their own. This situation creates a strategic vulnerability: that of theoretical digital sovereignty, which relies on infrastructure that is not part of it.
Breaking away from this addiction does not mean withdrawing. This is not about building a “European digital wall”, but building a sovereign and interoperable technology ecosystem. In this case, the UK and the European Union have an interest in working together. London has strong experience in risk management, cyber intelligence and talent training. Europe, in turn, has unique normative strengths and a growing industrial base. By combining these forces, it will be possible to create a “third cyber way”: neither the American, nor the Chinese, but truly European.
This collaboration can be structured based on three priorities. First, cyber intelligence sharing, because the threat is collective and the response must be too. Next, joint research in critical technologies of encryption, sovereign cloud, artificial intelligence cybersecurity to reduce dependence on large global players. Finally, training: without human resources, there is no sovereignty. Creating joint training, certification and mobility programs between UK and European experts will strengthen resilience on both sides of the English Channel.
Some would say that cooperation already exists, through NATO or sectoral partnerships. This is true, but still not enough. The challenge is no longer just about sharing technical information or reacting to attacks: the challenge is defining a common vision for cybersecurity in Europe. A vision capable of reconciling British speed and European stability, the flexibility of Anglo-Saxon markets and the institutional rigor of the European Union. With these conditions we are able to build lasting digital sovereignty.
In a world where the lines between technological blocs are increasingly shifting, cybersecurity has become an instrument of power. Europe and Britain no longer have the luxury of acting separately. Their cyber future depends on their ability to work together, combine forces, and speak with one voice in the face of the giants that dominate global cyberspace. Europe’s digital sovereignty is at stake not in separation, but in alliance.
