4 EVOLVING SECURITY CHALLENGES
4.3. CYBER SECURITY/DEFENCE AND THE CSDP by Jan Peter Giesecke
Our modern information society is deeply dependent on the availability of free and secure access to cyberspace and to the internet. This is true in nearly all areas of our lives, including, of course, in foreign and defence policy. The EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) activities, including civilian and military missions and operations, are no exception. They benefit from the digital world and their success is directly linked to the availability of assured information and functioning communication and information systems.
Cyberspace and the internet are increasingly becoming a new battlefield. Cyber-attacks are part of daily business, and at the same time are becoming more sophisticated, ranging from massive denial-of-service attacks to advanced and complex intrusions aimed at gathering, stealing, encrypting or manipulating and compromising information. Adversaries vary from ‘script kiddies’ and hacktivists to criminals, terrorists and state actors – or are supported by them. They have identified our dependencies and target our vulnerabilities, using the cyber domain to gain an asymmetric advantage and accomplish economic, political or military objectives anonymously and unattributed, while remaining below the threshold of armed conflict. The EU institutions’ networks too are constantly being probed and tested, and although there is no evidence yet of their being targeted, CSDP operations and missions are already facing a growing cyber dimension. Today’s conflicts are
ENISA
THE NEW THREAT LANDSCAPE
Cyberspace and the internet are increasingly becoming a new battlefield.
increasingly supported by disinformation campaigns based on social media, or by destabilisation operations with cyber-attacks on enabling sectors. Cyber activities must therefore be considered as part of all future scenarios, comprehensively examined, and integrated into the broader crisis response and taken into account when countering hybrid threats. With this in mind, what can we do and what has been done so far, in particular in the area of CSDP?
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