Several European heads of military cyber defense forces noted on Wednesday that the Russians had been much less effective than expected in the use of digital combat capabilities during their offensive against Ukraine.
“We were pretty sure that there would be a cyber Pearl Harbor” to accompany the ground offensive, said General Karol Molenda, the commander of the Polish cyber defense forces, during a round table at the International Cybersecurity Forum ( FIC) of Lille. “But Ukraine was prepared, and resisted Russia’s (cyber) attacks. So lesson number 1” of the war, “is that it is possible to prepare for a cyber conflict”, he estimated.
In addition, Russia is “strong to attack, but is not so good in defense”, noted the general, referring to the multiple cyberattacks which have affected the country, coming in particular from groups of independent hackers. Col. Romualdas Petkevicius, of the Lithuanian National Cyber Security Center, said that obviously “the Russians were not ready for a coordinated war on the physical plane and on the cyber plane”.