Cyberattacks Disrupting the Battlefield

The face of war is constantly changing. Cyberattacks have often been discounted as a support function at best when it comes to winning on a traditional battlefield. But if military weapons supply chains can be disrupted, it may shift perceptions. Denying the enemy’s ability to field important equipment may be a decisive factor in who’s boots remain standing in the combat zone.

Ukrainian hackers may be pushing this boundary, with recent attacks targeting Russian drone production. Ukraine recently reported to have conducted a cyberattack against Russia’s Gaskar Integration plant, a major supplier of military drones. Government coordinated hackers took control of the network, seized 47TB of sensitive technical data, then destroyed information used to run the infrastructure. The attackers indicated that production had been severely disrupted, but it is unclear for how long.

Reducing the daily airborne attacks from long-range drones is a key objective of Ukraine. Interfering with the manufacturing supply chain for these drones is likely much more cost efficient that attempting to shoot them from the sky.

Such attacks are not going unnoticed. These shifts will continue to accelerate the focus on both cyber offense and defense investments by nations across the globe.