management of large-scale cybersecurity incidents in the EU. This engagement will combine military experience and civilian situational awareness at the strategic and operational level. Whereas the EUCDCC should act as the central node for collecting, analysing, assessing and finally distributing cyber defence related information, in particular for military CSDP missions and operations, it could also link with the inter-institutional Cyber Crisis Task Force14, which was set up to ensure informed decision making and a coordinated EUIBA response to major cyber crises at the strategic and operational level. The EUCDCC may also exchange relevant information with a cyber situation and analysis centre which is being set up in the Commission with the support of the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) and CERT-EU to provide analysis and more effective crisis management support. Furthermore, the lack of commonly shared or interoperable secure communication tools and platforms between Member States and the relevant EUIBAs remains a major obstacle. The Commission and relevant institutions are currently carrying out a mapping of existing tools for secure communication in the cyber field. Based on this mapping of existing tools, the Commission will present its recommendations to the Council at the end of 2022 to agree on further actions. EU Cyber Solidarity for stronger common detection and situational awareness Civilian support actions can further increase the common situational awareness. The cyber defence community will be able to benefit from stronger civilian detection and situational awareness capabilities developed for the protection of EU critical infrastructure. To this end, the Commission is preparing an initiative to promote the deployment of an EU infrastructure of Security Operation Centres (SOCs) based on a first phase to be launched in the coming weeks, which would then be expanded and deployed on a larger scale15. This would ultimately be made up of several multi-country SOC platforms, each grouping together national SOCs, with support from the Digital Europe Programme (DEP)16 to supplement national funding. Legislative changes to DEP would permit longer term financial support for joint procurement of next-generation ultra-secure tools and infrastructure. This would enable the envisaged EU SOCs infrastructure to improve collective detection capabilities by using the latest artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics, covering civilian communication networks. This generation of actionable cyber threat intelligence would allow for timely warnings to authorities and relevant entities to enable them to detect and respond effectively to major incidents. The scale and scope of the infrastructure will depend on the overall funding that can be deployed at national level and by the Union, subject to available budget under the Multiannual Financial Framework. 14 An informal group including relevant Commission services, the EEAS, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), CERT-EU and Europol, co-chaired by the Commission and High Representative. 15 The EU's Cybersecurity Strategy for the Digital Decade, (JOIN/2020/18 final) and the EU Security Union Strategy (COM(2020) 605) 16 In accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/694 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2021 establishing the Digital Europe Programme and repealing Decision (EU) 2015/2240, OJ L 166, 11.5.2021, p. 1– 34, subject to possible amendment. 5