Hacking is also a weapon of war

Organisations that contract Intigriti do so because they are aware of the possible security risks they run. But not all companies have reached this point yet. "Companies that have the financial resources to recruit security profiles are usually ahead of the game. The same applies to organisations that are strong in ICT and are modernising their infrastructure." Unfortunately, the rest of the business world is lagging behind. "Those organisations still have a lot of catching up to do. Fortunately, awareness is growing." says Niels Hofmans, Head of Security at Intrigriti. 

Cyberwarfare  

The growth of awareness is partly due to the increasing media attention for cybercrime. "There are groups active with strong - suspected - links to state actors. I'm not just thinking of Russia. A few years ago, for example, a British intelligence service penetrated Proximus. You also have strong criminal organisations that try to hack into the container terminals in the major ports, for example." But likewise there are also small gangs, or even just groups of teenagers, who engage in hacking as a hobby. Very often it is hard to find out who was responsible for an attack. After all, cybercrime is very accessible. "With a laptop and a web browser you can already inflict harm on someone," says Niels Hofmans. 

In the context of a war - as is currently the case with the conflict in Ukraine - the importance of the digital war machine is increasing. "We see this, among other things, in the disinformation campaigns that pop up online," Niels Hofmans continues. "This is not new, as we also saw these campaigns around the election of Donald Trump and in the run-up to Brexit. "Specifically in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, we see that cyber warfare is an important part of it, both in the 'official' and 'unofficial' war. "Hackers attempt, for example, to disable the opponent's communications just before a physical attack. But there is also active espionage and hacking, for example by releasing malware on the systems of border posts so that people have a harder time fleeing the country." 

Critical infrastructure 

The cyber part of conflicts and wars gaining in importance may also be deduced from Defence Minister Dedonder's plans to reinforce the Belgian army with cyber soldiers by 2025. "Hacking governments, utilities, banks and other organisations is now inherent in modern warfare," says Niels Hofmans. "Critical infrastructure is not spared in the process." But ethical hackers can play a role there too, for example by checking the security of nuclear power stations, telecom providers, water companies and other critical infrastructure. 

At the same time, there may be a more subtle cyber threat. The finger is often pointed at China, which supplies technology on a massive scale, including in our country. "We cannot deny that there is political interference by the Chinese government in Chinese companies," says Niels Hofmans. "The government can request the personal data of users of technology arbitrarily. But that is just as true for American companies. It is a risk that we apparently accept, as users of Chinese and American technology. Using a Chinese smartphone is not so dangerous in itself. But using Chinese technology in our army? Surely that's something to think about thoroughly."