Susan DAVIS (United States)
13 October 2019
This STC General report was adopted on Sunday 13 October 2019 by the Science and Technology Committee at the 65th Annual Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in London, United Kingdom.
As every sphere of human society is becoming increasingly more connected, cyber threats are skyrocketing. NATO registers suspicious cyber events every day on networks it owns and operates, and intrusions into government and critical infrastructure networks in Allied nations are rising dramatically. As a result, NATO and the NATO PA are considering cyber security, defence, and deterrence as a matter of urgency. At the 2018 NATO Summit in Brussels, Allied leaders once again committed to reaffirm NATO’s defensive mandate and employ its “full range of capabilities - including cyber - to deter, defend against, and counter the full spectrum of cyber threats”.
This report focuses on the cyber threats going to the core of NATO’s raison d’être: cyber attacks threatening an Ally’s territorial integrity, political independence, or national security which could lead Allies to invoke NATO’s collective defence clause under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty. The general report:
• provides context for the cyber threat facing the Alliance;
• an overview of NATO’s current cyber strategies, policies and activities; and
• policy recommendations to strengthen NATO’s cyber security, defence, and deterrence.
