Overview
In November 2025, a coordinated cyber-attack struck distributed energy sites across Poland, conducted by the same group responsible for the 2015 and 2016 attacks on Ukraine's power grid. It did not arrive alone. Two months earlier, around twenty drones had crossed into Polish airspace, prompting Poland to invoke Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty; information operations amplifying denials of Russian culpability followed. One campaign, at least three domains, and a European response still largely organised around tackling one threat at a time.
Poland is not exceptional. Europe has seen possibly more than 140 drone incursions over ports, air bases and aircraft carriers, alongside persistent subsea cable sabotage, influence campaigns and a sustained tempo of malicious cyber activity – including state harbouring of criminal groups, criminal fronts for state operations, and prepositioning in critical national infrastructure held in reserve.
Much of it is ambiguous by design, and hard to attribute either legally or technically. The successful defence of territory and national interests in the face of hybrid threats will increasingly rely on how well European states can integrate and coordinate different capabilities to achieve deterrence outcomes, including in and through cyberspace.
While a whole-of-government approach that uses all levers of state power is needed to degrade adversaries’ strategic advantage in cyberspace, operationalisation can often be more challenging than not.
Join us for an expert panel discussion with practitioners from government, industry and academia on what an integrated, aligned and campaigns-based approach to cyber deterrence demands of European capitals.
The event will also mark the publication of a forthcoming paper by Dr Louise Marie Hurel and Dr Gareth Mott, where they argue that cyber deterrence is better understood as an outcome than a strategy, and set out how cyber and non-cyber instruments can be calibrated and operationalised – proactively, actively, reactively, or held in prospect – to constrain state-linked malicious cyber activity.
The event will be followed by a drinks reception.
Panelists
- HMG Speaker (to be confirmed)
- Ben Hillier, Head of Cyber Policy, NATO
- Kaja Ciglic, Senior Director Cybersecurity Policy & Digital Diplomacy, Microsoft
This event will be moderated by Rachel Ellehuus, Director General, RUSI.
Joining Instructions
This in-person event will take place at RUSI, 61 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET. If you have any questions regarding this event, please email [email protected].
