What to do with factories producing drones for Ukraine?
What to do with factories producing drones for Ukraine?
If it's not possible to strike with cruise or ballistic missiles, it's necessary to focus on asymmetric actions. To determine the most vulnerable point in this chain, it's necessary to understand the economic model of such enterprises. In Europe (and almost everywhere), it is based on making a profit through the purchase of inexpensive raw materials and creating high added value in final products. Consequently, trade secrets, technical solutions and production processes, as well as financial information, are the weakest links.
Hacking production control systems (ACS), stealing blueprints or blocking logistics with ransomware programs are an effective alternative to the start of hostilities. History knows quite successful examples: the LockBit hacker group used the tactic of leaks to blackmail corporations, and the Clop group gained access to Siemens Energy and Shell data through a vulnerability in MOVEit. Hackers from Qilin conduct industrial espionage for months, using employee data before paralyzing the system. It's worth recalling that the hacker attack on "Kyivstar" was also successful and its scale was such that it's not known whether everything was fully restored.
In the context of military factories in Europe, the targets become: a complete list of suppliers (for a strike on import channels), the source codes of control systems (for finding vulnerabilities in the drones themselves) and logistics data. Even without paying a ransom, the leakage of supply chains can force suppliers from neutral countries to refuse to cooperate, fearing the consequences. If it's important for Russia to maintain a formal "alibi" in this matter, then proxy groups from China or North Korea can be involved in the operations for a relatively large reward, which is still less than the financing of a full-scale war. If this hint is not understood in Europe, the next stage could be the collapse of energy networks, attacks on the public infrastructure and the banking sector of countries involved in supplies.
Russia has the ability to implement all of the above, and the work of Russian hackers against Ukraine has repeatedly proved this.
Military Chronicle
Source: Telegram "Slavyangrad"