NATO says cyber attacks a call to arms
NATO says cyber attacks a call to arms
June 28, 2017
Brussels (AFP) - NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned the
alliance must step up its defence against cyberattacks, saying they could
potentially trigger their Article 5 mutual defence commitment.
Computer users around the world were scrambling Wednesday
to reboot systems after a tidal wave of ransomware cyberattacks spread from
Ukraine and Russia across Europe to the United States and then on to Asia.
It seemed to be very similar to the WannaCry ransomware
which hit more than 200,000 users in more than 150 countries last month.
Stoltenberg said the "attack in May and this week
just underlines the importance of strengthening our cyber defences and that is
what we are doing."
"We exercise more, we share best practices and
technology and we also work more and more closely with all allies," he
told reporters ahead of a NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels on
Thursday at which cyber-security will be a key talking point.
Stoltenberg recalled that NATO leaders had agreed last
year that a cyber attack could be considered a threat sufficiently serious to
warrant invoking the alliance's 'all for one, one for all' security guarantee.
They also made cyber a NATO domain -- on a par with the
traditional air, sea and land arms to become part of overall alliance planning
and resource allocation.
NATO was also helping Ukraine, the country first hit by
Tuesday's cyberattack, with its online defences, Stoltenberg said.
In the NATO context, the greatest fear is that another
state would attack an ally's networks to undermine key industrial and civil
society infrastructure without firing a shot.
In the event, however, it seems non-state actors may be
able to cause just as much mayhem.
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