Published: Wednesday, May 29, 2024
ATHENS (Greece) — According to the EU’s leading cybersecurity official, the number of disruptive digital attacks in recent months, including those linked to Russian-backed organizations, has doubled. These attacks also target services related to elections.
Juhan Lepassaar is the head of ENISA (the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity). He told The Associated Press that geopolitical attacks have been steadily increasing since Russia invaded Ukraine in full force on February 24, 2022.
Lepassaar, speaking late Tuesday in Athens at the headquarters of the agency, said that the number of hacktivists attacks against European infrastructure — threat agents whose primary aim is to disrupt — had doubled between the fourth quarter 2023 and the first quarter 2024.
He said, “It is a significant rise.”
The European Parliament elections will take place between June 6 and 9, when citizens from all 27 EU member states will elect their representatives. This election will also determine the shape of the EU executive branch, the European Commission. Belgian officials announced on Wednesday that police searched the home of an employee at the European Parliament in Brussels and his office at the Parliament building. The searches were conducted over suspicions of Russian interference. The threat of interference campaigns by enemies has been raised in multiple countries including the United States, Britain, and many others.
ENISA has been leading exercises and intensive consultations in order to strengthen the resilience of agencies that are involved with elections within the EU over the last seven months. In its annual report 2023, ENISA noted an increase in ransomware incidents and attacks on public institutions.
Lepassaar stated that although not all attacks were successful, they are often tested in Ukraine before being extended to other EU countries.
He said: “This is a part of the Russian aggression war, which they wage physically in Ukraine but also digitally across Europe.”
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Experts warn of the use of artificial intelligence to target Westerners with false or misleading information at an accelerated pace and scale, including hyperrealistic audio and video clips called deepfakes.
Lepassaar stated that “AI-enabled information manipulation and disinformation is a major threat”.
His comments echo the warning issued by Avril A. Haines, Director of National Intelligence for the United States this month that more countries and groups will be able to launch disinformation campaigns as technology advances.
Experts from the U.S., Europe, and other countries are working with security agencies in order to anticipate digital threats and vulnerabilities that will emerge over the next decade. ENISA has identified food production, satellite control, and self-driving cars as areas of concern.
Lepassaar says that cyber security will become second nature for designers and consumers.
He said: “I believe we face a challenge as a society to understand digital safety in the same manner that we understand security in our everyday traffic environment.”
When we drive, we pay attention to what’s going on around us. “We are alert,” said he. We need to instill the same behaviors and habits when operating in any digital environment.