Building a common Nordic cybersecurity strategy
31st October, 2023 • Copenhagen Marriott, Copenhagen, Denmark
Securing CNI today, future-proofing economies for tomorrow
There is nothing like war to drive home the importance of physical security, and, these days, cybersecurity too. The Nordic region is on the frontline of current cyber hostilities related to the conflict in Ukraine and, as one recent piece of research reveals:
“The third quarter of 2022 marked a turning point in cyber-attacks related to the conflict in Ukraine, with a clear transition from a cyber-war focused on Ukraine and Russia to a high-intensity hybrid cyber-war across Europe. The cyber-war is targeting Poland and the Baltic and Nordic countries in particular, with an increasing focus on critical national infrastructure in sectors including aviation, energy, healthcare, banking and public services.
From targeted destruction campaigns to guerrilla cyber-harassment, pro-Russian hacktivists are using DDoS1attacks to make servers temporarily inaccessible and disrupt services. They are part of Russia's strategy to engage in information warfare as a way to wear down public and private organisations.”
But while CISOs have to find ways to protect their organisations against these kinds of nation-state attacks, governments are also realising that cybersecurity is a much broader threat to economic and societal well-being.
Attacks on SMEs often result in the collapse of those businesses. Yet small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of most economies. Attacks on elections, healthcare and education threaten core elements of a modern developed country. And IP theft is an attack on the future prosperity of all.
The good news is that governments and business leaders do finally seem to accept the gravity of the challenge.
The bad news is that not only are we playing catch-up as usual, new developments in technology, including generative AI, look certain to complicate technology choices for CISOs as well as enhance attackers’ ability to deliver their favourite types of attack (like ransomware) via their most effective vectors (phishing, smishing).
