Russia has made "thousands of attempts" to interfere with the operation of European railway networks as part of a campaign to destabilize the European Union and sabotage critical infrastructure.
This was stated by the Minister of Transport of the Czech Republic Martin Kupka to the Financial Times.
According to Kupka, Moscow is suspected of "thousands of attempts to weaken European systems" since the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Hackers attacked signaling systems and networks of the Czech national railway operator Ceske drahy.
Past attacks have disabled ticketing systems and raised concerns that successfully tampering with signals could lead to serious accidents. But Kupka claims that the Czech Republic is capable of protecting the system from attacks.
The publication writes that Russiaʼs attempts to destabilize the European energy infrastructure have been well documented in the EU, but interference in transport networks has been discussed less.
The EU Cyber Security Agency published its first report on transport threats last March. It says that "attacks on railway companies are increasing, primarily because of Russiaʼs invasion of Ukraine." Pro-Russian hacking groups tried to attack major railway companies in Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Estonia.
The Czech cyber security agency NUKIB has warned of an increase in the number of cyber attacks in recent years. And last year, hackers tried to attack the energy and transport sectors the most. Carrier Ceske drahy said it is constantly strengthening the companyʼs security due to the increasing number of cyber attacks on its digital infrastructure.
Russia has denied any connection to known hacking operations, but Western officials say the Russian government is a world leader in hacking and uses cyber espionage against foreign governments.