During the digitalisation of critical infrastructure, especially in the energy sector, cyber security should be in the first place – assessed Paweł Jakubik, member of the board of Microsoft in Poland, during the Economic Forum in Karpacz.
The management board member of Microsoft in Poland, who participated in a panel on energy security, warned that critical infrastructure, including the energy sector, is particularly vulnerable to hacking attacks.
“When talking about the energy market, fuel and gas market, it should be remembered that the large-scale digitalisation has started relatively recently. In the 1990s, banks, telecommunications companies, and pharmaceutical companies were digitised. Therefore, power, gas and fuels have a large technological debt, but on the other hand, they have the chance to leapfrog an era. However, they must have cyber security high on their agenda” – emphasized the member of the management board of Microsoft in Poland.
As a warning, he recalled one of the largest ransomware hacking attacks on the U.S. Colonial Pipeline.
“As a result, oil shipments were virtually blocked where nearly half of the U.S. East Coast was served by this pipeline,” he pointed out.
Jakubik pointed out that compared to the US, Poland and Central and Eastern Europe have relatively short experience in preventing such threats in the area of energy, so, as he pointed out, “we need to be all the more vigilant”.
“However, it is not the case that this what is safe today will also be safe tomorrow. Active hackers are working on new things all the time,” Jakubik said.
“That’s why, among other things, 3,500 digital threat professionals work on cyber security at Microsoft headquarters in Redmont, and Microsoft analyses more than 6.5 trillion signals every day to protect its customers. There are very specialised algorithms out there that analyse incoming attacks. Having data centres in the U.S., Australia or Poland, we can send patches in real-time to defend the infrastructure,” Jakubik explained.
According to him, to defend well against digital threats the future of the gas and fuel transmission infrastructure industry is hybrid cloud technology.
“However, we should remember that this digitalisation will not be done in a week, or a month, or even in a year. This will take several years” – emphasized the vice president of Microsoft Polska.
The jubilee XXX Economic Forum in Karpacz is attended by 3 thousand people, including representatives of the Polish government and guests from abroad. The Forum is the largest meeting platform in Central and Eastern Europe where not only security, prospects for economic development, contemporary challenges and overcoming crises are discussed, but also specific solutions are presented. “However, we should remember that this digitalization will not be done in a week, or a month, or even in a year. This will take several years” – emphasized the vice president of Microsoft Polska.
The jubilee XXX Economic Forum in Karpacz is attended by 3 thousand people, including representatives of the Polish government and guests from abroad. The Forum is the largest meeting platform in Central and Eastern Europe where not only security, prospects for economic development, contemporary challenges and overcoming crises are discussed, but also specific solutions are presented.