Government approves 1.1-billion-euro budget to strengthen cybersecurity just one week after nationwide electricity blackout in Spain

Just one week after a major blackout left practically the whole of Spain without electricity, government ministers has approved a new 1.1-billion-euro plan aimed at strengthening cybersecurity and cyberdefence measures.

The budget injection was announced on Tuesday by minister for digital transformation Óscar López. Central government does not rule out the possibility that the blackout was due to some kind of external attack on Spanish electricity grids and this billion-euro plan is part of the investment in defence to reach 2% of GDP this year.

According to the government, there were 100,000 cyber-attacks in Spain in 2024, with one considered "very serious" every three days. For that reason, López's department wants to give a boost to the 5G security operations centre with this update of the national cybersecurity plan approved in 2022. It also aims to increase the cyber-resilience of the digital administration's transversal services and incorporate advanced artificial intelligence (AI) techniques in the systems for detecting cyber-attacks and improving the coordination of the response of the public and private cybersecurity operations centres.

The minister also added that the system for generating early warnings in cyber defence will be strengthened by promoting partnerships with universities for research in cybersecurity. "Spain is an example to follow in terms of cybersecurity according to the international telecommunications union, surpassing the average of EU countries. We are the second country in the world with the highest number of cybersecurity centres, behind only the US," said López.

Of the total budget, 60.4% will be managed by the Ministry of Defence through the National Intelligence Centre (CNI-CCN). López's ministry will handle 22%, while the Ministry of the Interior is responsible for 16.3%. The Department of National Security (DSN), under the Ministry of the Presidency, will invest the remaining 1.2%.