Cyprus hosts the EU’s flagship executive cyber crisis exercise under the Danish EU Presidency.
Driven by the revised EU Cybersecurity Blueprint 2025 and inspired by real-life large-scale incidents, BlueOLEx 2025 brought together Europe’s top cybersecurity crisis management executives to test and enhance their collective preparedness.
Organised by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) and hosted in Cyprus by the Office of the Commissioner of Communications and the ICT Academy, this year’s edition focused on reinforcing the operational coordination and decision-making capacity of EU Member States during complex cyber crises.
Juhan Lepassaar, Executive Director of ENISA, underlined:
“To adapt effectively to an evolving cyber threat landscape, we must regularly test our processes and cooperation mechanisms. BlueOLEx provides national authorities with a unique opportunity to reflect on and strengthen their crisis response models. This exercise is essential for ensuring that the EU maintains a high level of preparedness and coordination in the face of major cyber incidents.”
George Michaelides, Commissioner of Communications of Cyprus, added:
“Hosting BlueOLEx 2025 is both an honour and a testament to Cyprus’s commitment to enhancing Europe’s cyber resilience. For a smaller Member State like ours, this demonstrates that cybersecurity strength lies not in size, but in solidarity, coordination, and shared purpose. BlueOLEx unites national executives, ENISA, and the European Commission to test how we communicate, cooperate, and respond under pressure—ensuring that Europe acts as one team when it matters most.”
👉 About EU-CyCLONe
The EU-CyCLONe facilitates cooperation and situational awareness among national cyber crisis management authorities across EU Member States. Supported by ENISA, which serves as the network’s Secretariat under the NIS2 Directive, EU-CyCLONe strengthens coordination with the European Commission in responding to large-scale cybersecurity incidents that could significantly impact essential services and sectors.
👉 ENISA Cyber Exercises
ENISA supports and organises regular exercises to test Europe’s cybersecurity crisis management readiness. These include CySOPex (for operational officers) and BlueOLEx (for executives), complemented by the biennial Cyber Europe exercise. Together, these initiatives help identify gaps, improve response procedures, and enhance information-sharing and situational awareness across the EU.
