Since Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, energy companies providing alternatives to fossil fuels have increasingly come under attack.
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00:00Renewable energy sources are under particular threat as part of growing hybrid warfare.
00:05Some of the technology is relatively new, so it's more vulnerable.
00:09And according to NATO officials, renewable energy is targeted
00:12as it represents a shift away from often Russian fossil fuels.
00:16Jönköping Energy in Sweden provides 40% of all energy to the region
00:21through renewable energy, hydro, wind and solar power for 186,000 people.
00:27It's working alongside NATO under the Nordic Pine exercise,
00:30helping participating nations prevent and react to cyber and other hybrid attacks.
00:37The attacker is more and more advanced.
00:39And I think some years ago people could say,
00:42no, we are so small, they will not hit us.
00:45Today, the system, the bots, etc., they can hit anybody.
00:50We can talk about, if you leave your system open without any kind of firewall,
00:55it can take seconds before you are hit because they found you.
01:00Cyber attacks from ransomware and also disinformation from either state and non-state groups
01:05is increasingly common as a means of doing harm to one's enemy
01:09without direct violence on the battlefield.
01:13Cyber attacks by Russia during the invasion of Ukraine 10 years ago
01:16were a major wake-up call to the renewable energy sector.
01:20NATO and its partners now very much focus on the threat of hybrid warfare
01:24and the impact this has on society.
01:26Ransomware is a business.
01:28The other thing is, you know, the dependency of electricity everywhere.
01:32We can't be without it.
01:34So, in that case, you can disturb a society very much by disturbing the electricity.
01:40And I think if you disturb the society, you will make people scary as well.
01:46What is going on? When will we get the electricity back again, etc.?
01:52I think it's a very good way to create a mess, if you would like to.
01:56The NATO-led Nordic Pine exercise is for the private and public sector,
02:00including research institutes.
02:02It concludes that the challenge of hybrid war, in particular cyber attacks,
02:06is best met with prevention and preparedness.
02:09And key to that, they say, is constant communication between governments,
02:12the private sector, the general public, and the military command.
02:16Shona Murray, Euronews, Jönköping, Sweden.
02:21Euronews.org