Barbara Gallo, who heads the ‘Hybrid Threats and Cyber’ division at the European External Action Service, explained on Thursday 25 September that “when analysing the last 12 or 18 months”, the Europeans had “noted an intensification of Russian hybrid activities. Russia has become more aggressive, more violent and more reckless in its actions”.
At a hearing of the European Parliament’s Committee on Security and Defence, Ms Gallo explained that Russia was “clearly the most direct threat to European security, along with the war in Ukraine and its hybrid activities”, and that Russian activities were likely to accelerate. In her view, disinformation, interference, cyber-attacks and sabotage, as well as GPS signal jamming and incursions into European airspace, “are part of a long-term hybrid campaign that is testing (the) resilience (of Europeans) and the democratic foundations of European states”.
While the fight against these threats is primarily the responsibility of the Member States, the European Union supports them, notably by imposing sanctions. Sixty-two individuals and entities are subject to measures under its new hybrid sanctions regime.
Ms Gallo stressed that Europeans wanted to be able to adopt a more proactive and calibrated response in the event of an attack. “We have the opportunity to take action. We have certain structures in place, but it is clear that we need to go much further in developing them”, she added, highlighting cyberspace in particular.
For his part, Paraskevi Papantoniou, Head of Unit at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space, pointed out that the European Commission was currently developing a surveillance capability to monitor radio interference.
In addition, since last July, the Galileo space system has offered “a unique capability to protect against spoofing attacks, which attempt to mislead users when determining their position”, she explained, adding that the EU was preparing the Galileo Signal Authentication Service, which should be ready by early 2027 and will offer “enhanced protection against a wider range of spoofing threats”.
However, according to Marjolijn Van Deelen, Special Envoy and Head of Division for Space at the European External Action Service, “for the time being, we have not seen any widespread use of this type of ‘spoofing’ by Russia in the region”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)