NATO officials at a conference in Estonia are discussing the risks of cyberattacks, and talking up the possibility of invoking Article 5, an alliance-wide obligation for member nations to come to the military defense of the attacked nation, in the event of “certain” cyberattacks.
CyberProject Director Catherine Lotrionte said there would need to be a “legal threshold” for the triggering of Article 5, and that such an action would need to only be considered in the case of a “grave threat” which is also “current,” and not in retaliation for something that happened years ago.
Gen. Christos Athanasiadis said there were be a much different reaction today than there was back in 2007 when a coordinated denial of service attack caused major interruptions across Estonia, including on its military and infrastructure networks. It’s not clear if that exactly means such a DOS attack, if carried out today, would lead to a NATO-wide declaration of war, however, or if the alliance would just feel obliged to do “something.”
Estonia suspected that the 2007 incident was Russia, and indeed, hardly a hack goes by that someone doesn’t try to pin on Russian hackers, this could make the possibility of invoking Article 5 a ticket to World War 3 the next time a big hacking attack hits a NATO member nation and someone gets the urge to throw blame their way.
Athanasiadis said there would be a “strong conventional response” if something happened to Estonia’s Internet now. Lotrionte made clear, however, that the threshold for such a declaration needs to be much higher than just accusations of propaganda being spread on social media, which is the most common allegation thrown at Russia, and can be depended upon to come up every time a NATO nation has a close election.
They never think of putting in ways to stop the alleged hackers, just as the USA seems incapable of defending itself despite its “defense” budget dwarfing that to the rest of the world
So, we know the latest ransomeware attack was cause and effect from US 3 letter agencies who developed this ransomware for malicious reasons and now they want to invoke this article to start a possible larger war with anyone they choose to blame, even though this could be our own dirty work, blamed on other countries? Brilliant… Sick bastards is right.
Can WWIII be far away…..??????
What response? Or it will be the atrocious threat of unleashing one of Trump’ mortal “stinkies”(i.e.farts).
FYI Full Text of the constantly misrepresented Article 5, and corollary:
Article 5
The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in
Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all
and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each
of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective
self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United
Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking
forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such
action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to
restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof
shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures
shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures
necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security .
Article 6 1
For the purpose of Article 5, an armed attack on one or more of the Parties is deemed to include an armed attack:
on the territory of any of the Parties in Europe or North America, on the Algerian Departments of France 2,
on the territory of or on the Islands under the jurisdiction of any of
the Parties in the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer;
on the forces, vessels, or aircraft of any of the Parties, when
in or over these territories or any other area in Europe in which
occupation forces of any of the Parties were stationed on the date when
the Treaty entered into force or the Mediterranean Sea or the North
Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer.
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_17120.htm