In this column, Annegret Bendiek and Matthias Schulze discuss Russia’s potential of using cyberwarfare and the importance of cyber resilience in deterring such attacks.

Russia first tested the military use of cyber capabilities during the 2008 conflict in Georgia, when Russian forces invaded South Ossetia on 7 August. The invasion was accompanied by several waves of so-called distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against Georgian media and government agencies. Obstructing or even cutting off communication with the outside world is a logical goal of a military invasion.

But what is behind the troop deployment on the Ukrainian border? The Russian government seems to be keeping all options open. A digital attack is likely. How the EU responds will be crucial.
The war of aggression on Ukraine has not (yet) become a cyber war – yet there are increasing signs that critical infrastructure in the West is also increasingly being targeted by cyber actors. We must therefore quickly create a framework in which cyber resilience becomes the norm.