A cyberattack on a NATO member state could trigger Article 5, its collective defence clause, a NATO official said on Monday, amid concerns that chaos in cyberspace around Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could spill over into other territories.
Highlights
- A cyberattack on a NATO member state could trigger Article 5, its collective defence clause.
- The military alliance has for years made clear that a serious cyberattack could trigger the clause, but such a scenario has so far been largely hypothetical.
- Britain and the United States have warned of potential cyberattacks on Ukraine which could have international consequences should, for example, malicious software designed to target networks in Ukraine start to spread elsewhere.
- There has also been concern among cybersecurity experts that Russia could team up with some of the gangs and people who release malicious software, such as malware used to hold Colonial Pipeline to ransom in the U.S.
- last year.
- Whether or not a cyberattack met the threshold of an attack large enough to trigger Article