Minister Kupka: Russian groups repeatedly attacked Czech Railways

You can also listen to the interview in the audio version.

Secret services warned Europe against sabotage or arson attacks directed from Russia. This was written by the Financial Times on Sunday, which, in addition to a number of security experts and analysts, also quotes Czech Minister of Transport Martin Kupka, according to whom the Czech railway network faced attacks led from Russia.

In an interview with Seznam Zprávy, the minister specified that Czech Railways had repeatedly faced cyber attacks. “It is quite obvious that since the Russian aggression in Ukraine broke out, there has been a noticeable increase in attacks by Russian or Russian-speaking cybercriminal groups,” said Martin Kupka about the incidents.

Secret services warn that Russian agents are planning sabotage across Europe. At the same time, according to your words, Russia has already attempted to disrupt the European railway network. What was it about?

I was based on the annual reports of the National Office for Cyber ​​and Information Security, the Security Information Service, and also what we faced in particular last year. Above all, at Czech Railways, where there were repeated attacks on user applications. They were all averted.

It is quite noticeable that since the outbreak of Russian aggression in Ukraine, there has been a noticeable increase in attacks by Russian or Russian-speaking cybercriminal groups.

In particular, delays in processing travel documents. We apologized to the public for this. Fortunately, the attackers were unable to break into that system. They just really burdened him with those attacks.

In Sweden, for example, a larger number of derailed train cases are currently being investigated. Russian agents haven’t attacked in the Czech Republic like this yet?

This did not happen in the Czech Republic. The Railway Administration also faced attacks, but exclusively in those user applications, not in systems that are strictly separate and take care of the safety of the railway infrastructure.

You said the attacks came from Russian or Russian-speaking groups. How close did you get to those hackers?

In what I could tell, I answered absolutely everything. I really can’t say more.

Do you currently have any information from the Secret Service about an imminent attack?

No, not currently, and we’re really trying to make those systems as secure as possible.