European Union governments will launch a large-scale simulation of cyberattacks against various member states later in the week.
The participants will face attacks on their supply chains and some indirect socio-economic effects in other member states, before coordinating public communications and a diplomatic response, according to people familiar with the matter and documents seen by Bloomberg.
The aim of the six-week exercise is to test Europe’s resilience, strengthen preparedness and cooperation between Member States, and improve the effectiveness of a joint response.
The EU simulation comes amid concerns that Russia could combine any measures against Ukraine with cyberattacks targeting the West.
One of the EU documents cites the recent cyber attack against the software company SolarWinds Corp., which – according to intelligence from the United States and the United Kingdom – was carried out by Russian intelligence and affected companies on both sides of the Atlantic.
Although the EU has several tools at its disposal to counter and sanction cyber attacks, it currently does not have a framework to effectively coordinate a joint response to a major crisis, the document says.
The exercise will be structured around a gradual escalation towards a major crisis culminating in an attack that could be classified as an armed aggression under the United Nations Charter, one of the documents indicates.
To be as realistic as possible and better prepare the bloc for an attack in the real world, it will be based on incidents that have happened or could happen in the near future.
The drill, proposed by the French EU presidency, is expected to begin this month and conclude during a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers late next month.
A French spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
