Prague, Oct 24 (CTK) – The Czech military intelligence VZ registered more cyber spying activities aiming to gain secret data on the defence of the Czech state in 2016, it writes in its annual report released on Tuesday.
Many cyber attacks were very difficult to detect, they were often revealed only after some time and the real perpetrators were hard to identify. The attackers took advantage of weak points of information and communication systems but also of the human factor, the report says.
The VZ writes that cyber attacks launched by terrorists and extremists were rather ineffective and not very dangerous last year.
The foreign intelligence services operating in the Czech Republic have not changed their modus operandi, the VZ writes.
“The intelligence services of foreign powers have kept selecting, attracting and gaining collaborators from civic groups and associations, nongovernmental organisations and people employed in the arms industry,” the report says.
Foreign agents focused on seeking sensitive data on the country’s defence plans and the planned upgrading of the Czech army.
Since the Czech democratic system has an open access to data, the spies officially operating in the country as diplomats gathered non-classified data on the defence capabilities of the country and its critical infrastructure, the report writes.
The VZ revealed efforts to influence public tenders at the Defence Ministry. All cases were caused by failures of employees, not of the system in general.
The report also focuses on paramilitary groups existing in the Czech Republic, concluding that they did not pose a serious security threat at present.