Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Cyberwarfare

NATO Warns Russia of ‘Full Range’ of Responses to Cyberattack

The head of NATO told Russia and other potential foes Thursday that the Western military alliance was ready to use all means at its disposal to respond to cyber attacks.

Jens Stoltenberg’s warning came with the bloc’s members on alert for interference in European Parliament elections that kicked off in Britain and the Netherlands on Thursday.

The head of NATO told Russia and other potential foes Thursday that the Western military alliance was ready to use all means at its disposal to respond to cyber attacks.

Jens Stoltenberg’s warning came with the bloc’s members on alert for interference in European Parliament elections that kicked off in Britain and the Netherlands on Thursday.

Western allies accuse Russia of trying to sway the outcome of the 2016 US presidential vote and using cyber technology to cripple the infrastructure of rival Ukraine — charges Moscow flatly denies.

“For deterrence to have full effect, potential attackers must know we are not limited to respond in cyber space when we are attacked in cyber space,” Stoltenberg said during a joint press appearance in London with UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

“We can and will use the full range of capabilities at our disposal.”

Hunt said that Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has shared details of malicious Russian activity with 16 of the 29 NATO members over the past 18 months.

He accused Russian “proxies” in 2014 of trying to tamper with the voting system and delaying the final results of a presidential election in Ukraine that followed the ouster of a Moscow-backed leader.

“In the cyber age, authoritarian states possess ways of undermining free societies that dictators of earlier times would have envied,” Hunt said.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

“Recent events demonstrate that our adversaries regard democratic elections as a key vulnerability of an open society.”

– ‘Constructive ambiguity’ –

The European Union last week adopted the power to impose “targeted restrictive measures to deter and respond to cyber attacks”.

Stoltenberg and Hunt refused to say what steps might be taken by NATO — a Cold War-era military alliance that Russia still views as a top national security threat.

“We need to balance clarity about our determination to act with constructive ambiguity about exactly what we would do in specific circumstances,” Hunt said.

He called the new EU sanctions regime just one of the potential options.

Longstanding tensions between London and Moscow culminated in the poisoning last year of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal on British soil.

Britain says it has evidence that the attack was plotted by senior leaders in Moscow and carried out by members of Russia’s military intelligence agency.

Britain says it has evidence that the attack was plotted by senior leaders in Moscow and carried out by members of Russia’s military intelligence agency.

The Kremlin calls Britain’s case inconclusive and politically motived.

But it saw Western allies join forces and expel nearly 150 Russian embassy staff from around the world. Moscow immediately followed suit.

Stoltenberg’s visit came as part of his preparations for a NATO summit London will host on December 3-4.

Written By

AFP 2023

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Understand how to go beyond effectively communicating new security strategies and recommendations.

Register

Join us for an in depth exploration of the critical nature of software and vendor supply chain security issues with a focus on understanding how attacks against identity infrastructure come with major cascading effects.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Cyberwarfare

WASHINGTON - Cyberattacks are the most serious threat facing the United States, even more so than terrorism, according to American defense experts. Almost half...

Cyberwarfare

Russian espionage group Nomadic Octopus infiltrated a Tajikistani telecoms provider to spy on 18 entities, including government officials and public service infrastructures.

Cybercrime

Patch Tuesday: Microsoft calls attention to a series of zero-day remote code execution attacks hitting its Office productivity suite.

Cyberwarfare

Several hacker groups have joined in on the Israel-Hamas war that started over the weekend after the militant group launched a major attack.

Application Security

Virtualization technology giant VMware on Tuesday shipped urgent updates to fix a trio of security problems in multiple software products, including a virtual machine...

Cybercrime

On the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, cybersecurity companies summarize the cyber operations they have seen and their impact.

Cyberwarfare

The war in Ukraine is the first major conflagration between two technologically advanced powers in the age of cyber. It prompts us to question...

Application Security

Fortinet on Monday issued an emergency patch to cover a severe vulnerability in its FortiOS SSL-VPN product, warning that hackers have already exploited the...