Heightened cyber attacks threat before Council of Europe summit in Reykjavik

In the lead-up to the Council of Europe summit set to start Tuesday, there has been a surge in attempted cyber attacks on Icelandic infrastructure, which so far have not led to major incidents.

CERT-IS, the Icelandic cyber security team, has reported an unusually high number of computer attacks targeting Icelandic companies and institutions in the run-up to the Council of Europe Summit that will take place in Reykjavik on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The objective of these attacks is not necessarily data theft or system destruction but rather to exert immense pressure on the systems, causing temporary collapse, declared Guðmundur Arnar Sigmundsson, director of CERT-IS, referring to these attacks as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

The recurrence of such attacks appears to follow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as seen during his recent travels through Germany, France, and the UK. While the Ukrainian president’s attendance at the summit in Iceland remains uncertain, it is clear that Ukraine-related matters will be at the forefront of discussions.

Guðmundur suggested these attacks are likely carried out by groups sympathetic to Russia, whose primary aim is to sow chaos.

“This is typically the pattern observed during similar international meetings. Before the event, attempts are made to breach the systems, and once the meetings commence, pressure attacks are intensified,” he explained.

A grocery store Krónan and the municipality of Dalvíkurbyggðmong the recent cyber attack victims are the grocery store Krónan and the city of Dalvíkurbyggð. However, both incidents are deemed non-serious, with no loss of data.

Preparedness and vigilance are essential in mitigating the impact of such attacks. Guðmundur emphasised that network security teams and operators of critical network infrastructure have diligently prepared themselves. This involves system reviews, establishing incident response protocols, and ensuring the availability of key personnel when necessary.

While there is no immediate cause for public concern, Guðmundur urged companies, institutions, and website owners to remain vigilant.

“There is reasonable ground for people to lower the threshold they have for reacting to something suspicious,” Guðmundur said, adding that people should notify the cyber security team at the slightest suspicion of an attack.

The Icelandic Presidency of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers is hosting a Summit of Heads of State and Government that will gather 46 member states on 16 and 17 May in Reykjavik. This is the 4th Summit of the Council of Europe since its creation in 1949.

The Summit will focus on the Council of Europe’s core values, its mission in the light of new threats to human rights and democracy, and the support to Ukraine through concrete measures to help achieve justice for the victims of the Russian aggression.

(Charles Szumski | EURACTIV.com)