NATO trains countries to respond to cyber attacks on renewables

Renewable energy sources are under particular threat as part of a growing trend toward hybrid warfare.

Cyber attacks from ransomware and disinformation spread by state and non-state groups are now common as a means of doing harm to one’s enemy without direct violence on a battlefield.

Cyber attacks in Ukraine in 2014 and elsewhere since then have been a major wake-up call to the renewable energy sector.

Some of the technologies used for renewables are relatively new, and therefore more vulnerable. And according to NATO officials, renewable energy is a clear target as it represents a shift away from Russian fossil fuels.

Jönköping Energi in Sweden provides 40% of all energy to some 186,000 people via hydroelectric, wind and solar power.

The facility is now working alongside NATO under the Nordic Pine exercise, which is designed to help participating nations prevent and react to cyber and other hybrid attacks.

“The attackers are more and more advanced. And I think some years ago people could say, no, we are so small, they will not hit us. Today the system, the bots, etc., they can hit anybody,” says Anders Ahlgren, an independent security expert.

“If you leave your system open without any kind of firewall, it can take seconds before you are hit because they will find you,” he continues.

Disturbed electricity, disturbed society

Ahlgren points out that society’s dependency on electricity makes it highly vulnerable to disruption.

“We can’t be without it. So in that case, you can disturb society very much by disturbing the electricity. And I think if you disturb society, you will make people scared as well: ‘What is going on? When will we get the electricity back again?’

“So I think it’s a very, very good way to create a mess if you want.”

The Nordic Pine exercise has brought together the private and public sector, as well as research institutions, to establish how new energy infrastructure can be protected against hybrid attacks.

Its central finding so far is that the challenges of hybrid warfare, and cyber attacks in particular, are best met with prevention and preparedness. Key to that is communication between governments, military commands, the private sector and the general public.