The US has given the broadest hint yet that a cyber-attack on one Nato country will be regarded as an attack on all.
It is a potentially dangerous development, as cyber-attacks are increasingly common, with the Pentagon reporting millions of
The US has given the broadest hint yet that a cyber-attack on one Nato country will be regarded as an attack on all.
It is a potentially dangerous development, as cyber-attacks are increasingly common, with the Pentagon reporting millions of probes a day and actions by more than 100 foreign intelligence agencies.
In 2007, Estonia was almost crippled by a cyber-attack thought to originate in Russia. At the time, Estonia, a member of Nato, said it did not know if the alliance covered cyber-attacks, and the US, Britain and others danced round the issue.
The development is contained in a report by the Obama administration, International Strategy for Cyberspace, in which the US for the first time sets out a strategy for dealing with the expansion of the internet and what it describes as "arbitrary and malicious disruption". It notes the growing threats by individual hackers, companies and hostile states, and offers broad proposals on how to tackle these.
It suggests that existing US treaties such as the one that set up Nato, which requires an attack on one member state to be treated as an attack on all, also cover cyber-attacks. But it stops short of saying so categorically. "All states possess an inherent right to self-defence, and we recognise that certain hostile acts conducted through cyberspace could compel actions under the commitments we have with our military treaty partners," it says.
The thrust of the report is on how to reconcile the US championing of internet freedom in places such as China and Iran with protection of privacy in the US. The report is thin on how to achieve this.
The Obama administration sets out a broad objective: "The US will work internationally to promote an open, inter-operable, secure, and reliable information and communications infrastructure that supports international trade and commerce, strengthens international security, and fosters free expression and innovation."
But the report continues: "The world must collectively recognise the challenges posed by malevolent actors' entry into cyberspace, and update and strengthen our national and in