Russia has made "thousands" of attempts to interfere with European rail networks to destabilize the EU and sabotage critical infrastructure.
Cyber attacks on the Czech railway
The Minister of Transport of the Czech Republic, Martin Kupka, told the Financial Times about this.
According to him, Moscow is suspected of "thousands of attempts to weaken our systems" after the Russian Federation's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Kupka said the hacker attacks targeted signalling systems and networks of the Czech national railway operator České dráhy.
Previous attacks have caused ticketing systems to crash, raising concerns that successful attacks could lead to serious crashes.
This is a difficult moment... [but] I am delighted because we can protect all systems from attacks.
Martin Kupka
Minister of Transport of the Czech Republic
České dráhy said it had "observed an increase in the number of cyber attacks on our digital infrastructure" and was "constantly strengthening" its cyber security.
Cyber attacks on transport in Europe
The Financial Times writes that in March 2023, the EU cybersecurity agency published its first report on threats to transport.
It states that "attacks on railway companies have become more frequent, primarily due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine."
The report noted significant cyberattacks by "pro-Russian hacker groups" on Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Estonia railway companies.
The Czech cyber security agency NUKIB has also warned of an increase in cyber attacks in recent years.
One of the notable trends of the past year has been the growing interest of attackers in the energy and transportation sectors, according to a report published in July.
