The Russian Federation has made "thousands" of attempts to interfere with European rail networks as part of a campaign to sabotage critical EU infrastructure. This was stated by the Minister of Transport of the Czech Republic Martin Kupka in an interview with the Financial Times ,UNN reports .
As part of its efforts to destabilize the European Union, Russia has made thousands of attempts to disrupt the European rail network
According to Kupka, the Russian hacking campaign included attacks on the signaling systems and networks of Czech national railroad carrier České dráhy. Past attacks have led to the failure of ticketing systems. This has caused concern, but "we can protect all systems [from] a successful attack," Kupka emphasized.
Russia's attempts to destabilize Europe's energy infrastructure are well documented, but less is said about interference in transportation networks, The Financial Times notes.
In March last year, the European Union Cybersecurity Agency (ENISA) published its first report on transportation threats. It said that "attacks on railroad companies are on the rise, mainly as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine." The agency pointed to the spread of cyberattacks by "pro-Russian hacker groups" on railroad companies in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Romania.
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Prague has become increasingly tough on Russian influence campaigns after the Czech Republic approved a law in 2022 that allows the government to take action against foreign actors suspected of human rights violations or cybercrime.
Last week, the Czech government imposed sanctions on ex-Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk and his associate Artem Marchevsky, as well as on the Voice of Europe media outlet, which the Czech Foreign Ministry said was responsible for conducting a "Russian influence operation" on behalf of Medvedchuk.