As the military phase of the Kremlin’s attempt to unwind the growth of democracy grinds into a grisly stalemate, they will need to find someone to blame. They cannot admit that Ukraine alone could defeat their invasion: they will need to point their fingers at a bigger bogeyman. That is why it is highly likely that Europe and America will be targets of economic sabotage.
Increased reports of similar attempts to attack corporate computer systems indicate that effort has already started. Experts expect those attempts to rise both in number and sophistication in the coming months.
The good news here is that National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NUKIB) is ready, and working with the private sector to improve our digital networks. Juraj Sedivy of CETIN told AmCham CZ members that NUKIB and his fellow infrastructure providers have joined forces to spot any vulnerabilities and react swiftly. Milan Habrcetl of Cisco advised companies to make login to systems more secure, to improve their ability to track how users travel through their systems, and to automate their investigation of every breach.
The economic phase of this conflict between types of governance will likely last far beyond any end to the violence in Ukraine. It could spread across the globe as autocratic governments fall further into an isolation that will reduce their ability to generate the intellectual property that generates new technology and premium products. Today is the day we should start investing time and resources into protecting the technology that is both one of the most important outcomes and one of the vital foundations of our democratic and free market form of governance.
Weston Stacey