Ukraine, Iezzi (Swascan): “Against the Russian cyber offensive we need a European deterrent”

In the last few hours, the networks of the defense ministry of Ukraine and two of the largest banks in the country have been hit by a cyber attack. Kiev has quickly pointed the finger at Moscow and everything suggests that this latest cyber attack is the final pawn in a complex hybrid war game, which has now been running between Russia and Ukraine for 8 years. A conflict that, on the digital level, has been going on for some time. “For at least a decade – observes Pierguido Iezzi, CEO of Swascan, the Italian cybersecurity pole of the British Tinexta Group – the leaders of the Kremlin have been successfully using military and non-military means as a whole”.

“The Russian Btg battalions now deployed on the border with Ukraine – observes Iezzi – have effectively integrated an intrinsic capacity of cyber warfare to the armored vehicles. We are talking about real cyber-soldiers in support of the troops, able to perform digital disturbance actions. Moscow has effectively integrated the digital realm into the war realm by creating units that can affect adversary communications, infrastructures, energy networks ”.

“What we see now underway in Ukraine – says the CEO of Swascan – is the result of the experiences drawn from the conflicts in Chechnya, Dagestan, Georgia and Abkhazia, Crimea. But we have also had proof of this in Europe, with the cyber attacks that paralyzed the internet in Estonia in 2007 ”.

“We know that Moscow monitors most of the criminal hackers operating on its territory – reveals Iezzi – and we know that it has often and willingly made use of them. But not only: at the beginning of January a real systematic mapping operation of these gangs was brought to light, carried out by the FSB, probably as a preventive operation of “counting the available arms”.

The fight against the Russian hybrid war is inherently asymmetrical. The openness of Western democratic societies naturally makes them more vulnerable to disinformation than the Russian-controlled information space. “Moscow – notes Iezzi – also has complete digital sovereignty on its side. That is, it has almost complete control of its internet and telecommunications infrastructure. Europe does not have the same opportunity ”.

The only way to stop the raids is to re-establish a parity of forces on the field. It is necessary to build a European cyber deterrent, able to counterbalance the Russian hybrid warfare activity which has a very heavy competitive advantage. “If Europe cannot equip itself with a defense system at the level of other current geopolitical players – considers the CEO of Swascan – it can certainly use its Cyber ​​strength and offensive capabilities as a deterrent. This is the priority lever on which we should focus European efforts. A capable, effective and efficient cyber “proactive” structure that can act as a deterrent for anyone wishing to threaten the European territory and strategic assets. This proactivity – suggests the CEO of Swascan – will have to be sought in skills and in cyber research laboratories, favoring a virtuous collaboration between public and private sectors that puts the competence of one at the service of the skills of the other. After all, this is what distinguishes us from autocratic powers in general and from Russia in particular: freedom, capable of nourishing the creativity of the company for the benefit of individuals, but also of the community. Strengthened by this value – concludes Iezzi – we will thus be able to find the right response to the attack by the Russian bear ”.