Swiss Defence Ministry warns companies of increased cyber espionage from Russia, China and Iran

The Federal Council's latest Security Policy Report states a high threat to economic and political targets in Switzerland. Swiss companies - from large corporations to SMEs - should take this warning seriously and continually update their cyber protection measures.

"The spectrum of risks is broad and is becoming increasingly broad," says Defence Minister Viola Amherd to the media in Bern on 29 April 2021. The day before, the Federal Council had opened the discusion on the Security Policy Report 2021. The report lists the priorities of Switzerland's security policy in the coming years. The last Security Policy Report dates back to 24 August 2016, but much has changed since then: Amherd said: "The situation has become more unstable, the geopolitical environment more unpredictable and therefore more difficult". Additional threats and dangers have emerged without the former ones having disappeared, the report concludes.

More state-sponsored cyberattacks also on private companies and public organisations expected

According to the report, some states are strongly expanding their capabilities in the offensive cyber area, either by upgrading their own capacities or by cooperating with non-state groups. Therefore, state cyber attacks with unclear perpetrators can be expected to increase. For some years now, it has been observed that the offensive cyber capabilities of Russia, China and Iran for espionage in Switzerland have expanded. The threat posed by Chinese and Russian cyber attacks to economic and political targets remains high. In particular, Geneva-based international organisations and the financial and technology sectors are targets of such attacks. In the criminal sphere, there are increasingly attacks with encryption Trojans, the report continues.

Companies and public organisations have to invest in cyber-defense

The massive upheavals and new business areas created by global networking and the internet over the last two decades have now led to a massive increase in threats to companies and public organisations. Viola Amherd's report shows this in all clarity. Protection against these external threats has become an absolutely critical corporate task and must be a top priority for C-level management.

As a long-standing infrastructure partner for many large Swiss companies, WIRD has emphasised the importance of cyber security for 20 years now. WIRD has always offered our customers state-of-the-art security solutions from leading partners, for instance CrowdStrike, Vectra, Netskope, F5 Networks, Thales and others