Hybrid attacks are primarily based on fake news, disinformation, hate speech, generated from certain centers of power, but also fraud, sabotage, use of pranks… Hybrid threats – internet insidiousness, is the topic of this edition of the political video magazine SCAN.
“The goal of hybrid attacks is to destroy the chances of a certain country or structure of realizing its goals. To destabilize it, to discredit it and to prevent it from achieving its goals”, says Xhabir Deralla from CIVIL.
State President Stevo Pendarovski considers that with the hybrid attacks, the world, and we as a country with little resources, are yet to have problems.
“We, as a state, were subject to serious hybrid attacks for the first time during the 2018 Referendum. However, back then we were still not in the NATO Alliance, at the time we used to receive some support at the bilateral level, but not as the one we receive now. The last time, was a synchronized attack with a huge intensity not seen until now in our country, which took down the website of the State Election Commission on election day, and this cannot be done by one person, so saying that 2-3 young hackers did such damage, is not true and are stories for small children”, says Pendarovski.
He outlined that hybrid attacks are a new problem, but that luckily for us we are a NATO member since March 27 this year and that we have started receiving plentiful assistance and support from other NATO allies.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg highlighted that they are giving North Macedonia full support in the fight against cyber-attacks and hybrid attacks, which existed also before the pandemic and have not disappeared, and that NATO is increasing its security measures and the fight against disinformation and fake news.
Saso Ordanoski says that Slobodan Pecat and TIME.MK were a target of hybrid attacks almost a year ago, before the parliamentary elections were held in North Macedonia, and that even though they have information on where those attacks have been carried out and have been reported to the police, so far they have no reply.
Text and editing: Dehran Muratov
