Wake up! is NRC's headline, in an interview with Bart Groothuis, after cutting internet cables and sabotage on water supplies in Sweden and Finland. Mark Rutte in his speech as the brand new NATO boss, also raises the alarm bells. We need to mentally prepare for war situations. We're not ready for what's coming our way in the next four to five years. Clear choices are necessary for our safety. And without safety, there is no freedom for our children and grandchildren.
We are not at war, but there is certainly no peace.
Sweden knows what it means to make clear choices. 13 applications for wind farms in the Baltic Sea were recently rejected because of the military danger. Windmills influence submarine signals and reduce the response time to incoming missiles from 2 to 1 minute. A trade-off between economy and “detect & respond”.
The Minister of Defense has indicated that it is realistic that the Netherlands will be involved in a large-scale conflict. And recently, a letter to parliament was published about the need for a resilient society. It acknowledges that the security situation has deteriorated significantly in recent years. The Netherlands is the target of hybrid attacks: cyber operations, espionage and sabotage. The times when the Netherlands had little or no need to worry about resilience of it's society is over.
The security situation has deteriorated significantly in recent years. The Netherlands is the target of hybrid attacks: cyber operations, espionage and sabotage
In times of crises and conflicts, the government cannot solve everything. Society as a whole needs to become more self-reliant and collaborative. A resilient society can withstand shocks. This also applies to companies: being prepared for crises and disruptions, and having the ability to resist, absorb and recover from them. We must be able to deal with a combination of long-term failures, scarcity and disruption.
Is the Netherlands prepared? the 'Veldheren' (off-duty generals Mart de Kruif and Peter van Uhm) give a clear answer in their podcast: ”no“. You get caught in places where you are at your weakest. That's why the Russians, but also the Chinese, are scanning everything. You have to plan and prepare for the most likely option, but also the worst option. Another learning point is “mission control”, during crises: tell people what to do and why, but especially not how to do it. This provides the necessary flexibility and creativity that is needed during crisis situations. In doing so, you will also have to accept that things go wrong (sounds suspiciously like 'agile'). A final point they touch upon is mental resilience (in addition to physical and cyber resilience). Suddenly, certainties are no longer so certain. This is perhaps the most difficult task. It's about letting go and resolving inner conflicts (lessons from a samurai by Bjørn Aris is a recommended book for this).
How can you contribute to the resilience challenge? For me and my colleagues, this is about resiliency to cyber threats. Implementing DORA or NIS2, not as a compliance task, but to actually be more resistant to attacks and to be able to recover from them. This is the goal for 2025, improving the resilience of your organization and yourself.
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