Nato is ready to defend against global threat of cyber attacks
Roland Oliphant
Cara Mcgoogan
A CYBER attack against any Nato member state would trigger the alliance’s mutual defence clause, the organisation has warned, after a massive computer hack paralysed government ministries and dozens of businesses in Ukraine before spreading around the world.
The latest attack, using a virus called Petya, used an exploit similar to last month’s Wannacry ransomware attack, which hit hundreds of thousands of users around the world, including the NHS. However, Petya is believed to have been designed to cause chaos rather than extort money.
Ukrainian officials have pointed at Russia, which is fighting an undeclared war with Ukraine in the east of the country and has been blamed for other cyber attacks on Kiev.
Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general, said alliance members agreed last year that a cyber attack could trigger Article Five of the North Atlantic Treaty in the same way as a military assault, and promised more help to Ukraine to bolster its cyber defences.
“The attack in May and this week underlines the importance of strengthening our cyber defences and that is what we are doing,” Mr Stoltenberg said at a press conference in Brussels.
“We exercise more, we share best practices and technology, and we also work more and more closely with allies. Nato helps Ukraine with cyber defence and has established a trust fund to finance programs to help Ukraine improve its cyber defences.
“We will continue to do this and it is an important part of our cooperation.”
Mr Stoltenberg said the alliance had also defined cyber defence as a Nato domain on a par with land, air, and sea operations. On Tuesday, Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, said the UK would consider retaliating with military means against a cyber attack by another state.
The promise came as businesses ranging from an Australian chocolate factory to India’s largest port counted the cost of the Petya attack. The virus stops computers from being able to launch and demands $300 (£234) in exchange for decrypting frozen files.
The Ukrainian government said yesterday that attacks in the country had stopped, but local commentators claimed the hack may have been coordinated with the assassination of a senior Ukrainian intelligence officer.
Colonel Maksim Shapoval was killed by a car bomb in Kiev on Tuesday. He had recently returned from eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian troops are fighting Russian-backed separatists.