NATO to recognize cyberspace as new frontier in defence

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation recognised on Tuesday that modern military conflicts are not only fought in the air, sea and land, but also through the internet.

Pressure had been put on world leaders in recent times to apply the same criteria to cyberspace warfare as is placed on traditional methods of conflict.

The declaration was made following a meeting for NATO's defence ministers on Tuesday, with Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stating that it has become clear that dangerous attacks can be launched on the internet and among computer networks just as easily as they can on the battlefield.

The Democratic National Committee announced on Tuesday that their computers had been hacked by the Russian government, with files being acquired about their research on Donald Trump.

David Gibson, vice-president of strategy and development at data protection firm Varonis, welcomed the news.

“This is a welcome, if long overdue, recognition that cyber warfare is in fact an important and lethal domain," Gibson said. "We would urge NATO and participating governments, as well as their technology providers, to take a modern approach that prioritises securing the data itself from unauthorised access."

“This is a welcome, if long overdue, recognition that cyber warfare is in fact an important and lethal domain," David Gibson

Gibson stressed the strategic importance of this recognition further, and it believes it will allow companies like his to better secure their clients.

"The threat of intruders taking over control of sensitive systems and commands by gaining access through legitimate accounts is a massive concern. Protecting the physical perimeter of any network has proven to be insufficient.”

Simon Crosby, co-founder of Bromium, a start-up that tackles internet viruses and security issues, is not so sure about NATO's ability to utilise the tools correctly.

"The organisation was founded to protect the members by, in extremis, deploying conventional non-cyber assets to effectively combat a threat on any member of the coalition. But NATO has no assets to deploy in the cyber domain."

"NATO has no assets to deploy in the cyber domain." Simon Crosby

Crosby asserts that NATO, in essence, is helpless to prevent most cyber attacks.

"Each member has carefully managed its own cyber attack techniques, tools and strategies. They each know the vulnerabilities and weak spots of their foes, and all of their peers in NATO. NATO cannot deploy assets to mitigate a cyber attack – the organisation is an anachronism from the era of the cold war, and has zero capacity to act in the cyber domain".