(MENAFN) Belgium has emerged as a prime target for state-sponsored cyber warfare, with Russian-linked operations now accounting for 5% of all Moscow-attributed digital assaults globally, according to Microsoft's 2025 annual cybersecurity assessment disclosed Saturday by media.

The Silicon Valley giant's intelligence reveals that recent service disruptions at Proximus, Scarlet, and Ghent University Hospital bear the hallmarks of Kremlin-backed cyber operations targeting the nation's critical infrastructure.

Bart Asnot, cybersecurity expert at Microsoft Belgium and Luxembourg, pointed to the country's geopolitical significance as the driving factor behind escalating digital threats.

"NATO, the EU institutions, Eurocontrol -- they're all here. Geographically and politically, Belgium is the heart of Europe," he said.

The offensive campaigns typically deploy so-called hacktivist collectives operating as proxies for Russian state interests. Their weapon of choice: Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) strikes that overwhelm targeted networks with massive traffic volumes, forcing systems offline, the assessment reveals.

"These attacks don't break into systems but are meant to disrupt and send a message -- to show they are watching us," Asnot said.

Despite the surge in government-sponsored intrusions, financially motivated cybercriminals remain responsible for the bulk of digital threats. Microsoft's data shows espionage accounts for merely 4% of detected incidents, while a staggering 81% pursue monetary objectives. Finance, information technology, education, and research organizations face the heaviest assault volumes.

The tech titan's report underscored an alarming spike in artificial intelligence-enhanced phishing schemes. Threat actors now weaponize AI platforms to mass-produce personalized, sophisticated deception emails in seconds. Microsoft recorded nearly 7,000 credential-theft attempts per second—representing a 30% year-over-year surge.

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