A Legal Shield for Europe’s Cyber Hunters
A new analysis in the journal *Cybersecurity* argues for urgent legal protections for security researchers across the European Union. The paper highlights the growing legal risks faced by ethical hackers who discover and report software vulnerabilities, citing high-profile cases in the Netherlands, Malta, and Germany. It examines the fragmented landscape of current EU directives—including the NIS2 Directive and the Cyber Resilience Act—and finds them insufficient. The author advocates for a coherent, EU-wide framework built on two pillars: mandatory coordinated vulnerability disclosure (CVD) procedures for organizations and substantive legal exemptions that define and protect “good-faith security research” as a safe harbour.
Why it might matter to you: For cybersecurity professionals focused on threat intelligence and vulnerability assessment, this legal shift could redefine the boundaries of safe penetration testing and red teaming. A standardized safe harbour would reduce legal uncertainty, potentially increasing the volume and quality of vulnerability reports that feed into your patch management and risk management strategies. This development is central to building a more resilient, collaborative security ecosystem in line with zero-trust principles.
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