The CRA | Europe’s wake-up call to the Tech Industry

In a world where every device is online, from your home gateway to your smart TV. The European Union has sent a clear message: digital products must be secure - not just by design, but by default. The Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), adopted by the European Parliament in 2024 and set to come into force in the coming years, is the EU’s boldest attempt yet to bring cybersecurity into the heart of the product lifecycle.

The real shift | Cybersecurity as a Trade Barrier

Most commentary focuses on compliance: SBOMs (Software Bill of Materials), vulnerability management, support obligations and timelines. But what few are talking about is how the CRA effectively becomes a cybersecurity trade barrier and intentionally so. If your product isn’t secure, you don’t sell it in Europe. Period.

It raises the bar—not just for EU companies, but for anyone doing business in the EU. That’s not just regulation—it’s digital sovereignty.

Hidden Impact | Startup and Open Source innovation at Risk

The CRA doesn’t discriminate between a €5 billion enterprise and a one-person open source project. This is one of the most underestimated dangers.

While the regulation includes some flexibility for open-source software developed “outside of commercial activities,” it leaves a grey zone that could discourage small developers and innovators from contributing to the European market. Startups already operate under razor-thin margins. Mandating multi-year security support, formal risk assessments, and CE-marking for every release could be paralyzing. This may unintentionally consolidate power among tech giants, the very players the EU has spent the last decade trying to regulate.

SBOMs | A security cure or a paper tiger?

The CRA puts great emphasis on Software Bill of Materials -transparency into what components are in your software. But here's what no one talks about:

Knowing what's in your software doesn’t make you secure. It’s the difference between having an ingredient list and being able to spot which one causes an allergic reaction. SBOMs are useful, but without automated vulnerability correlation, supply chain monitoring, and rapid patching pipelines, they risk becoming compliance theater. The CRA could unintentionally create a excess of documents no one uses meaningfully, especially for legacy devices with limited update mechanisms.

The CRA forces a new paradigm | Cybersecurity as Product Engineering

Historically, cybersecurity has been bolted on at the end or worse, left to post-sale updates. The CRA demands that it be part of the core engineering and risk analysis process, just like safety is in the automotive or aviation industry.

This is where the real value lies: elevating cybersecurity to an engineering discipline rather than an IT afterthought. Manufacturers must embed threat modeling, secure development practices, update mechanisms, and risk reporting into their design cycles. For forward-thinking companies, this is an opportunity—not a burden. It’s a chance to build trust as a product feature.

The unspoken elephant | Skills shortage and implementation bottlenecks

The CRA assumes manufacturers have the cybersecurity expertise to comply. But in reality, Europe (and the world) is facing a massive cyber skills shortage. Security engineers, DevSecOps experts and compliance officers are already hard to find.

This Act will dramatically increase demand. What’s missing in public discourse is: who’s going to do this work?

The ripple effect may lead to an arms race for cybersecurity talent, driving up costs and further squeezing small manufacturers. Expect a boom in "compliance-as-a-service" firms—but also an uptick in corner-cutting and checkbox security.

Key takeaways | What you should really be thinking about

1. The CRA is not just a regulation, it’s a geopolitical move. It forces the world to meet Europe’s security standards or risk losing access to its market.

2. Startups and open source contributors need urgent support. Without clarification and scaffolding, we risk stifling the very innovation the EU wants to protect.

3. Transparency (SBOMs) is only the beginning. Without contextual analysis, it’s just noise. Invest in smart tooling, not just documentation.

4. Product managers need to become security champions. Cybersecurity is now a core product function, not a compliance issue.

5. Train your teams today. If you don’t have internal cybersecurity expertise, start building it. Relying on external compliance partners alone will not be enough.

   
   

Final thoughts | Regulation is not the Enemy

The CRA is ambitious and imperfect. But it sends a powerful signal: security is no longer optional. In an era where digital infrastructure underpins everything from democracy to daily life, we can no longer afford products that ship fast and patch later. The road to resilience is paved with both innovation and regulation. The CRA isn’t just Europe’s bet—it might be the future of global tech governance.