There is cause for concern over the bomb threats, said Yavor Kolev, the former head of the Cybersecurity Department at the Directorate General for Combating Organized Crime, on the “Wake Up” program. According to him, these attacks should not be treated merely as random incidents; instead, it should be determined who has an interest in destabilizing Europe and the resources to bring it about.
“The answer to all these questions is Russia,” Kolev said. He specified that, at present, there have been no results from the investigations, including those into the threats against schools at the beginning of October in Bulgaria, Italy and other European countries. According to him, Russia views Europe as hostile.
Fear and testing the institutions
Kolev believes that the aim of the attacks is to instill fear and panic, as well as to test the institutions’ readiness to respond. “We can see that they are not prepared,” he said.
As an example, the expert cited the case involving refrigeration systems in supermarkets, in which the temperatures in some of them were changed remotely. According to him, although this incident occurred at the beginning of October, a similar attack is being repeated and is producing the same effect. Kolev said that cybersecurity authorities should have informed potential victims in other European Union countries back then.
He suggested that measures had been taken in Bulgaria if the refrigeration systems of food retailers had been vulnerable. “The major food retailers heard about it on the news, if they did not learn from the cybersecurity authorities that such a problem existed and that they needed to take measures,” Kolev said.
Call for further investment
According to him, Bulgaria is investing in cybersecurity and developing the authorities responsible for it. Kolev said that the country is part of the European security system, but stressed that what has been done so far is not enough.
“More and more investment must be made in cybersecurity,” concluded the former head of the department at the Directorate General for Combating Organized Crime.
Sources: nova.bg