# Tackling Europe's most pressing infrastructure threats > Grid failures, sabotage, drones, cyber attacks and supply disruption are now planning assumptions. How the platform locates, designs and operates infrastructure that has to keep running. URL: https://www.qoreinfra.com/insights/tackling-europes-most-pressing-infrastructure-threats/ Publisher: Qore Infrastructure Partners (https://www.qoreinfra.com) Author: Qore Infrastructure Partners Published: 2026-10-31 --- Security and resilience Grid failures, sabotage, drones, cyber attacks and supply disruption are now planning assumptions. How the platform locates, designs and operates infrastructure that has to keep running. By **Qore Infrastructure Partners**31 October 20266 min read ## Key points * Threats to Europe's infrastructure are physical as well as digital, and increasingly deliberate. * Resilience is largely decided at site selection and design, long before operation. * Qore builds protection into land, power, design, supply chain and operation, rather than adding it afterwards. For most of the past two decades, the main question for a European data centre was whether it could be built. Today a second question carries equal weight: will it keep running when something goes wrong? Recent events have made that question concrete for governments, defence organisations and the companies that depend on digital infrastructure. ## The threat picture has changed On 28 April 2025, Spain and Portugal lost power for up to ten hours. The final report of the expert panel commissioned by ENTSO-E describes a combination of factors, with the system's inability to control overvoltage at the centre of the cascade. Trains stopped, and internet and phone services failed across the peninsula. In the Baltic Sea, at least eleven undersea cables were damaged between October 2023 and January 2025, prompting NATO to launch its Baltic Sentry mission to protect cables and pipelines. Deliberate sabotage has not been confirmed in every case, but the vulnerability is clear. In September 2025, drone sightings closed Copenhagen airport for several hours and disrupted military air bases in Denmark, with further sightings near critical sites in Norway, Sweden, Germany and Finland. Regulation has followed. Under the EU Critical Entities Resilience Directive, member states had to identify critical entities, in sectors including energy, digital infrastructure and space, by 17 July 2026. Designated entities must then meet resilience obligations and report significant incidents within 24 hours. The NIS2 Directive already brings data centre service providers into the EU's cybersecurity regime. ## Resilience starts with the site Most resilience is decided before construction begins. Qore selects land where grid capacity is confirmed in writing by the system operator, preferably with access to more than one source of supply, and where on-site or adjacent generation and storage can be added. Site security, approach routes, separation from public infrastructure and diverse fibre routes are assessed at the same stage, before a design is fixed. ## Designed for continuity Facilities are designed for the continuity requirements of their users: redundant power and cooling, storage and generation to ride through grid disturbances, controlled access and perimeter protection, and, where the mission requires it, hardening against physical, drone and electromagnetic threats. For sovereign and defence-related workloads, ownership, operation and access governance remain within the required jurisdiction. ## Trusted supply chains Disruption to equipment supply is a resilience risk in its own right. Qore secures long-lead power and cooling equipment against the programme and works with established manufacturers and contractors. Its factory-built Qore Modular system allows capacity to be integrated and tested before it reaches site. ## Operated by an accountable owner Resilience is not a certificate issued at handover. As long-term owner, Qore remains accountable for operation, working with specialised facility management partners to defined standards, testing response procedures and preparing for the reporting obligations that critical entities now face. ## What this means For governments, defence organisations and critical industries, the question is no longer only where capacity is available. It is also who controls it and whether it will hold under pressure. Qore's answer is to treat security, resilience and sovereign control as design requirements from the first day of origination. ## Sources 1. [28 April 2025 Iberian blackout](https://entsoe.eu/publications/blackout/28-april-2025-iberian-blackout), ENTSO-E 2. ['Perfect storm' of multiple factors behind 2025 Iberia power blackout, experts say](https://www.euronews.com/2026/03/20/perfect-storm-of-multiple-factors-behind-2025-iberia-power-blackout-experts-say), Euronews, 20 March 2026 3. [11 Baltic cables damaged in 15 months, pushing NATO to boost security](https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2025/01/28/11-baltic-cables-damaged-in-15-months-pushing-nato-to-boost-security/), Defense News, 28 January 2025 4. [A 'drone wall' is needed for Europe to defend against a new threat](https://www.chathamhouse.org/2025/10/drone-wall-needed-europe-defend-against-new-threat), Chatham House, October 2025 5. [EU CER Directive enters a new phase as critical entity designation deadline arrives](https://privacymatters.dlapiper.com/2026/07/eu-cer-directive-enters-a-new-phase-as-critical-entity-designation-deadline-arrives/), DLA Piper, July 2026 6. [Directive (EU) 2022/2555 (NIS2)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2022/2555/oj), Official Journal of the European Union Figures are as reported by the sources above at the time of writing. This article is for general information only and does not constitute an offer, solicitation or investment, legal or tax advice. ## Related * [Governments & Defence](https://www.qoreinfra.com/governments-and-defence/) * [On-premise, edge and high-security facilities](https://www.qoreinfra.com/solutions/on-premise-and-high-security/) * [Operations](https://www.qoreinfra.com/delivery/operations/) [Contact the team](https://www.qoreinfra.com/contact/) Insights ## Further perspectives [Sovereign AI ### Sovereign technology is becoming an investable category European AI companies are raising capital on a sovereignty thesis, and security and defence are becoming core markets for advanced AI. Four signals and what they mean for the infrastructure underneath.](https://www.qoreinfra.com/insights/sovereign-technology-is-becoming-an-investable-category/)[Sovereign AI ### Building Europe's Sovereign AI Infrastructure Europe's AI ambitions will be decided by who controls the facilities, power and supply chains beneath the models. A perspective on what it will take, and how the platform is built to deliver it.](https://www.qoreinfra.com/insights/building-europes-sovereign-ai-infrastructure/)[Market ### Speed to power is now the decisive asset in European data centres With connection queues in Europe's traditional hubs at seven to ten years, the market's scarce input is no longer land or capital but confirmed power before 2030. Implications for origination, valuation and customers.](https://www.qoreinfra.com/insights/power-not-land-decides-europes-ai-map/) --- About the publisher: Qore Infrastructure Partners (QIP), Building Sovereign Infrastructure. Qore originates, develops and delivers strategic infrastructure for hyperscalers, governments, defence organisations and critical industries. Founded in Switzerland. Website: https://www.qoreinfra.com. Not affiliated with Gcore, QORE Switzerland AG, QORE Global, QORE Finance or Qore (core banking). Nothing on this site is an offer of securities or investment advice.