Military Intelligence to invest hundreds of millions in cyber-defence

Czech Military Intelligence will reportedly invest hundreds of millions of crowns next year in cyber-defence. No sector and no country in this day and age are immune to cyber-attacks and services have to remain vigilant. I discussed the situation with security analyst Andor Šándor and how it had changed from the time when he was the head of military intelligence.

Andor Šándor, photo: Šárka Ševčíková, Czech Radio

“Years ago, cyberattacks were of course known but were originally not considered that dangerous. Certainly not anything like today. According to US sources, cyberattacks cost the world 350 billion US dollars. So it is an omnipresent danger we face today and one which will only grow. It is quite normal and proper to invest in cyber defence. I would say that the threat is of course is far broader and not just military intelligence but the entire state administration as well as private businesses need to keep up to speed, and to do everything they can to prevent attacks.”

So an absolute necessity as the threat is always evolving; how much is the Czech Republic at threat?

Illustrative photo: ČT24

“Well that’s the thing: it is no longer possible to say that any country would be safer than any other. Cyber warfare can be state-sanctioned or indirectly. You can have private entities or state hackers and the threat can come from anywhere.”

Czech TV reported on terrorist organisations like Islamic State. How much is cyber warfare part of their strategy?

“Certainly it is something they have focused on. They can hit nations with physical attacks like we saw in Paris but they also are very sophisticated in cyber warfare. In general, [it is very much a part of asymmetric warfare] and I would be surprised if it also didn’t figure in the campaigns run by the US and also Russia against IS.”