Elections 2024: Special ‘crisis unit’ to safeguard elections against possible cyberattacks
A special “crisis unit” will be set up to closely monitor the local elections on Sunday. The National Crisis Centre and the security and intelligence services “will monitor possible threats related to cyber security, public order and disinformation”, said federal interior minister Annelies Verlinden.
“We should not be naive: disinformation, foreign interference and cyber threats are a reality that we unfortunately have to deal with,” stated Verlinden. “In the event of a concrete threat, the National Crisis Centre and the security and intelligence services can act quickly.”
This week, many cyberattacks were carried out on the websites of Belgian municipalities, provinces and government departments. Just today, the Flemish Parliament and Belga news agency, amongst others, were hit. The cyberattacks were DDoS attacks, which overwhelm servers with massive amounts of traffic, rendering them unusable.
A spokesperson for the minister said that it is difficult to pinpoint the precise cause of this week's cyberattacks in Belgium. Verlinden herself stated yesterday at a meeting with EU colleagues in Luxembourg that the decision for new aid to Ukraine could be a cause. The cyberattacks were carried out by the pro-Russian hacker collective NoName057, which also explicitly referred to Belgium's support for Ukraine. This week's cyberattacks, just before the local elections, are “particularly intense”, according to the spokesperson.
In case of any new cyberattacks, the elections on Sunday will not be jeopardised, the interior ministry assured. Voting is done by computer in many places, but the votes cast are not stored on the voting computers. In addition, the computer is not connected to a network and cannot be hacked, according to the ministry.
Local elections will take place at municipal and provincial levels in Belgium on Sunday 13 October. In the run-up to the vote, Belga English explores the main issues to watch out for and provides an overview of events.
The centre for cyber security in Belgium (CCB) in Brussels © BELGA PHOTO HATIM KAGHAT
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