Several cable breaks have occurred in the Baltic Sea lately, several of them are being investigated as sabotage. The events have led NATO to strengthen its presence, from Swedish perspectives, three warships and radar voltage and management aircraft have been sent. NATO’s Deputy Secretary General of Innovation, Hybrid and Cyber issues, James Appathurai, states that you will act harder to the suspected sabotage, but also working hard to prevent them. – The first thing we have to do is see them. We are placing more technology now, including in the Baltic Sea, says Appathurai in an interview with TV4 News. Want to develop surveillance in addition to being able to locate suspected sabotage against underwater infrastructure, he believes that it also needs to strengthen the general resilience. – All our infrastructure, such as cyber security, but especially energy infrastructure must be built to be more robust. We call it deterrent by denial, which means that if you can always resist, the attacker will stop attacking, says Appathurai. He also points out that it is not possible to monitor and protect all cables all the time. – But we can work with companies to become more resistant and get a better picture of what is going on in the Baltic Sea. So that we can see patterns and move there if something suspicious happens, says Appathurai. This is done, among other things, through military operations, but also in other ways. – We set up platforms with sensors from the bottom to space, so that we can better see what happens, says Appathurai. NATO top: Part of Russia’s doctrine that Russia is aiming for critical infrastructure is not news, says Appathurai. – The context is important here, it was a Soviet strategy and is now a Russian – attacking energy infrastructure. That’s what they do in Ukraine. Everything is part of their doctrine. Cable break has occurred in the Baltic Sea and in other places before and the latest cable break that hit Sweden turned out to be a mistake. At the same time, Appathurai believes that it is not a coincidence. – Then we have the “shadow fleet”, they constantly send out very dangerous vessels with single hulls, poor equipment and no insurance. And they happen to pass over our critical infrastructure, then it seems to occur, says Appathurai, adding: – We see a pattern where wires and cables are now regularly damaged.
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