While there has been no radical change in cyber threats since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, attacks have become more intense and sophisticated, said Juhan Lepassaar, executive director of the EU cybersecurity agency, ENISA, on Monday (26 September).
Only one significant cyberattack with spillover effects has been recorded since February 2022: the Viasat attack, which had the spillover effect of affecting the operation of thousands of windmills in Germany.
However, the cost of ransomware attacks is increasing, with skills shortages and the protection of critical sectors of particular concern.
“This should not mean that we can lower our guard. The overall threat landscape remains challenging,” ENISA’s Lepassaar said during a parliamentary hearing in the Industry, Research and Energy Committee.
Ransomware attacks are the prime threat, followed by social engineering and malware. “With state-sponsored actors focusing more on impactful attacks by aiming at supply chains, the cost of ransomware might be well over €250 billion by 2031,” the agency chief added.
A major issue, according to Lepassaar, is that, in many cases, the affected organisations do not report the attacks to the relevant authorities. In 2021, zero cases of cross-border relevance were reported by member states, although a majority of cases affected several countries.
“The reason why they are not reporting is that they don’t know. The reason why they don’t know is they don’t share. So it is a vicious circle that we need to somehow crack at the Union level,” Lepassaar said.
To minimise the risks of cyberattacks, the agency chief suggested focusing on investments to combat the shortage of skilled workers and to increase investments in critical sectors, citing healthcare in particular.
At the end of October, the European cybersecurity month, ENISA will publish ..
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