Axel Legay, professor of cybersecurity at UCLouvain, affirms it: the war in Ukraine did not start on February 22 but on January 24. Indeed, for nearly a month, the country has had to face numerous cyberattacks from Russian hackers. “When Putin brought his army to Russia, he projected his cyber-army into Ukraine, targeting media, government sites, banks or even private sites. Ukraine has been under constant threat for years. tension of Russian hackers”, he explains on the airwaves of the First this Monday morning.
In fact, we learned some time ago that several Ukrainian ATMs had been neutralized, thus preventing the withdrawal of cash for the population. These attacks can therefore manifest themselves in many forms: the killing of a site, the blocking of the operation of a dam or a hospital, the circulation of fake news… These threats are also called upon to to augment. Today, cyberattacks constitute the second front of wars. Hybrid wars as Axel Legay likes to call them, since part of our world today is in cyberspace. “We underestimate this front because we don’t have an image, we don’t see a missile falling on a building, and yet the threats are very real (…) Since Europe is very digitally connected , a virus in Ukraine will also have consequences in Belgium. This affects us all”, he laments.
These hackers who are on Russian territory cannot however be directly linked to President Putin, good news according to the cybersecurity expert. “If this were the case, that would mean that NATO countries are under attack and from then on Article 5 would become actionable (Editor’s note: collective defense system)”, he explains. “These hackers are people like you and me, they are everywhere and untraceable. It’s a total disorganization so as not to incriminate a country”. Axel Legay compares these men to a “digital army”. “Russia made it one of its specialties before anyone else because it was forced to reinvent itself in the 90s when its economy was broken and when it might not maintain a conventional army. It has in a way turn his KGB into a cyber-army”.
Belgium, a target of choice
If Ukraine is currently the target of Russian cyberattacks, our country is not immune. “Belgium is the headquarters of NATO and the European Commission, which makes it the second target following NATO. There is cause for concern. Hackers will never attack NATO head-on They will rather try to integrate the network, by attacking weaker people and who communicate more simply, like a secretary, or a service provider.This is why Belgian companies are potential targets for then hit bigger fish. We have to be vigilant.”
Cyberattacks are usually visible when they are at their peak since it is impossible to monitor cyberspace. “For me, you really have to be afraid. The United States do not stop issuing alerts on the energy networks or on the banking networks, as well as the French. They are nations very well equipped in cybersecurity and we cannot ignore their messages,” continues the UCL professor.
Thus, Belgium is beginning to take matters into its own hands. There is the CCB, the Center for Cybersecurity Belgium, which unfortunately only covers a part of cybersecurity.In Wallonia, all researchers in the field have decided to come together to form Cyberwal and help industrialists. Axel Legay himself coordinates the project. The goal ? Preparing cybersecurity, training and the industrialists of tomorrow. “We have skills but we have to accept the fact that hackers will always be ahead and we have to take certain measures. I think we are starting to have a good focus on cybersecurity, even if it is following a good number of other countries, but we have to invest more. We have to break up the square meadows and we have toall the players in the field unite, collaborate and coordinate”.
