The 2021 report warns of cyber attacks as the threat that will increase the most in the next five years
MADRID, May 1. (EUROPE PRESS) –
National Security includes energy vulnerability among the five greatest risks for Spain in its 2021 report, which also predicts that cyber attacks will be the fastest growing threat in the country over the next five years.
The document, to which Europa Press has had access, includes a risk analysis drawn up from a survey of experts during the month of October last year; although the report was definitively approved by the National Security Council at a meeting held on March 4, 2022.
As it has done for the last three years, the report draws a risk map with the 16 threats included in the National Security Strategy. All of them are in the upper part of the table, with values above 3 in terms of threat level.
Combining the level of impact of the risks with their degree of probability, the report places pandemics and Pandemics at the top of the list. This value already topped the table last year as a result of the coronavirus.
Next, it places the vulnerability of cyberspace, economic and financial instability and, in fourth place, energy vulnerability. Irregular migratory flows, disinformation campaigns and the effects of climate change also appear with a very high intensity.
“The great magnitude of the coronavirus crisis, still active, the concern about suffering a cybersecurity incident, an issue that is perceived as very likely both by public institutions and by companies and citizens, as well as the strong rise in prices, especially of energy products, are three risks and threats that draw the critical zone of the risk map for National Security in 2021”, summarizes the report, presented last Monday in Congress by the director of the cabinet of the Presidency of the Government, Óscar López.
DETERIORATION OF NATIONAL SECURITY
In the specific section on cybersecurity, National Security warns that the remains in this area have been “multiplied” as a result of the massive transfer of activities and organizations to the virtual environment during the last two years.
In fact, in an analysis of threats over the next five years, he warns that cyberattacks are the ones at risk of experiencing the greatest growth; although in general the perception of the foreseeable evolution of the National Security context with a time horizon of five years is one of deterioration. In fact, none of the risks and threats to National Security are within the range of elements with a tendency to improve.
The survey results place five items in the range of risks and threats showing strong deterioration. They are the vulnerability of cyberspace; disinformation campaigns; the effects of climate change and the degradation of the natural environment; irregular migratory flows; and energy vulnerability.
CRITICAL CYBER INCIDENTS ARE INCREASING
Cyber incidents identified in 2021 decreased compared to the previous year, although those classified as critical increased “significantly”. In addition, cyber attacks are also the cause of the majority of incidents detected in critical infrastructures.
As López pointed out in his parliamentary appearance, after the sharp increase in cyber attacks in 2020, with more than 13,000, in 2021 there were 10,831 cyber incidents of varying dangerousness and impact on critical operators or essential services.
The strategic sectors most affected by cyberattacks were the administration, financial and tax, and transportation sectors.
In addition, in 2021, twenty-nine incidents related to physical security in strategic sectors were reported to the National Center for the Protection of Critical Infrastructures, compared to twenty-four registered in 2020, eighty-nine in 2019, twenty-two in 2018 or fifty-four in 2017.
