Illustrative stock photo (source: Sme)
Slovakia is vulnerable to hybrid threats, say the authors of the latest publication from the Globsec think-tank.
“We cannot pretend that Slovakia need not be concerned by hybrid threats when we see what is happening all over Europe,” said Daniel Milo, Globsec analyst and the leader of the Strategic Communication programme, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
The approval of the Concept for the Fight against Hybrid Wars by the Slovak government last year was an important step. However, there is still much work to do, he added.
Slovakia is threatened
The authors of the publication analysed six key fields: the targets of the most frequent hybrid threats and also the measures they use.
They also identified weak points and offered 40 recommendations to increase the resistance of Slovakia against hybrid threats.
As Milo explained, hybrid threats target these weak points and use them to favour the opponent.
Slovakia has experiences with paramilitary and extremist groups that can pose a threat to the stability and security of society, the analyst said.
“They do so not only with their illegal activities but also by spreading propaganda and disinformation,” Milo explained, as quoted by TASR.
Disinformation, cybernetic attacks and the financial influence of foreign players could influence electoral processes in the country, he said, adding that strategic communication is the way to defend against this.
The lack of experts
Information and communication technologies are one of the main victims of hybrid attacks on the country, said Katarína Klingová, analyst for the Strategic Communication programme at GLOBSEC.
Despite the fact that there are new measures in the field of cyber security in Slovakia, there are not enough qualified experts.
“Cyber security is closely connected to energy security, but the countermeasures hardly touch on the cyber component at all,” she said, as quoted by TASR.
