Ireland on high alert over Russian cyberattacks

Shockwaves from the ongoing conflict in Ukraine are reaching the previously unlikely victim of the Republic of Ireland, prompting the neutral nation to tighten its ties with NATO.

Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Micheal Martin has acknowledged that Russia is using cyberattacks far beyond the regional war zone, so even distant Ireland on the continent’s Atlantic flank is vulnerable to electronic sabotage.

Indeed, highly. The government has repeatedly warned institutions and companies to improve their precautions against Russian cyberattacks and disinformation efforts.

“The threat level has increased,” Defense Minister Simon Coveney recently assessed. By advocating a huge increase in military spending, Coveney said. “We need to know what is happening in Irish sea and air space.”

Historically, Ireland has always been a backwater in the continent’s military infrastructure and security. He was a non-combatant in World War II. Apart from its participation in peacekeeping efforts, it has been more or less off the stage, although it hosts a United Nations training school.

Now, however, an overhaul is underway. This is partly motivated by the sinister Russian threats against Britain which would affect peaceful Ireland. Moscow is believed to be behind the recent massive cyberattack that disrupted the Irish health service. The Irish government is keen to stress that such events should not reopen old arguments over whether the country should abandon neutrality in favor of joining the alliance, although in some quarters it will almost certainly be the case. The fact remains that “between a firefighter and a fire, there is no neutrality”.

The question is how President Biden’s favorite European nation can get closer to NATO (and cooperate with it) without joining. Nowadays, the remoteness of war zones offers little protection.

At this point, a strange and certainly little-known bureaucratic beast looms in part.

This is the “European Center of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats” headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. It’s kind of a full-fledged hybrid in that it’s only jointly sponsored by NATO and the European Union and works for both groupings.

This body was founded only five years ago with nine members when it realized that the distinction between war and peace was being blurred by cyber technology. The center’s network, promoting research and exercises against all forms of hostility up to but not including traditional warfare, now has 31 members in the Euro-Atlantic community sharing 1,500 experts from government, private business and universities.

The Irish snubbed an original invitation to join but now have second thoughts. The government is preparing to join what we are being asked to call the “Hybrid CoE”.

Irish membership will add to Vladimir Putin’s collection of unintended consequences in his war against Ukraine.

As Martin says, “I’ve always said we need to think about military non-alignment in Ireland. We are not politically neutral and Ireland will be part of the European defense process.

Participating in the electronic conflict between East and West will therefore not violate Ireland’s military non-alignment, but it will be better able to defend itself in the stealthy turmoil that is cyberspace.

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David Haworth has been covering Europe since the early 1970s. This column was provided by InsideSources.