OSCE holds national table top exercise in Serbia on protecting critical energy infrastructure from cyber-related terrorist attacks

Strengthening protection and preparedness against terrorist attacks aimed at critical energy infrastructure was the focus of a risk-assessment and crisis management exercise in Belgrade on 19 and 20 October 2017, organized by the OSCE Transnational Threats Department with the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia.  

During the exercise, 32 experts from various national state authorities and private sector companies tested the effectiveness of their existing protection and crisis management systems, including co-ordination with external crisis management mechanisms to mitigate the impact of an attack. The exercise aimed at improving partnerships between the public and private sectors in order to increase the resilience of the national energy infrastructure.

“Today, the energy sector largely depends on automated processes, and in that sense, significant IT support. If attacks from cyber space led to the disruption of services of the energy sector, this could potentially have cascading detrimental consequences for our citizens and society,” said Zoran Predić, State Secretary of Serbia’s Ministry of Mining and Energy, who addressed the national energy and cyber security experts at the workshop’s opening.

“Terrorist attacks against ICT-dependent critical infrastructure may threaten international peace and security if left unaddressed,” said Rasa Ostrauskaite, Co-ordinator of Activities to address Transnational Threats of the OSCE Secretariat. “OSCE participating States committed to co-operating and to considering all necessary measures at the national level in order to ensure adequate critical energy infrastructure protection from terrorist attacks.”

Denise Mazzolani, Head of the Police Affairs Department of the OSCE Mission to Serbia said: “This exercise provides the responsible state authorities and energy sector with a hands-on experience of the vulnerabilities of non-nuclear critical energy infrastructure and the possible consequences that a terrorist cyberattack might have.”  

This tabletop exercise in Serbia is the sixth of a series of national exercises developed by the OSCE Transnational Threats Department for OSCE participating States and is based on its Good Practices Guide on Non-Nuclear Critical Energy Infrastructure Protection from Terrorist Attacks Focusing on Threats Emanating from Cyberspace.