Several top European military cyber defence services say that the Russians have shown themselves to be a lot less efficient than expected in deploying digital combat capabilities in their war against Ukraine.
“We were pretty certain there would be a cyber Pearl Harbor to convoy the ground offensive,” General Karol Molenda, the commander of Poland’s cyber defence forces, said during a roundtable at the International Cyber Security Forum (FIC) in Lille, France.
‘But Ukraine was prepared and managed to withstand the (cyber) attacks from Russia. So the main lesson of war is that it is possible to prepare for a cyber conflict.”
In addition, Russia is strong on offence but not so good on defence, the general said, citing the many cyberattacks that hit the country, especially from independent groups. But Molenda also warned that Russia has strong capabilities in “psychological and informational actions” it could deploy against Western countries, especially after new sanctions.
