NATO is implementing a coordinated approach to
cyber defence that encompasses planning and capability development
aspects in addition to response mechanisms in the event of a cyber
attack. To achieve this, NATO is incorporating and integrating cyber
defence measures across all Alliance missions. NATO is also developing
minimum requirements for those national networks that are connected to
NATO information.
Therefore, NATO is identifying its critical dependencies on its allies’
national information systems and working with its allies to develop
minimum cyber defence requirements. NATO is defending its territory and
populations against all threats, including emerging security challenges
through cyber defence. On that point, the NATO policy on Cyber Defence
reiterates that any collective defence response is subject to decisions
of the North Atlantic Council, which is enhancing NATO consultation
mechanisms, early warning, situational awareness and information-sharing
among the allies. In this regard, Russian hacker groups affiliated with
the Russian government carried several cyber attacks to the computers
of Ukrainian administration officials and to agencies in NATO.
Russia has been using a form of hybrid warfare in Ukraine since early
2014 that relies on an element of information warfare that Russia calls
“reflexive control”. The primary objective of the reflexive control
techniques Moscow has employed in the Ukrainian situation has been to
persuade the West and strong NATO allies to remain on the sidelines as
Russia dismantles Ukraine. Russia has used force against Ukraine by
engaging in “hybrid warfare”. Rather than openly using military power to
secure its political objectives in Ukraine, Russia has adopted an
approach intended to give the Kremlin “plausible deniability” while
reducing the cost associated with engaging Ukraine’s armed force
directly. On that point, cyber conflict and cyber warfare present great
examples of the use of new technologies within the scope of hybrid
warfare. The adversary is usually difficult to locate and to respond to
in the cyber domain. Cyber space allows for a great deal of anonymity
and attacks can be routed through servers all over the globe to mask its
origin. On December 23, 2015 the power grid in the Ivano-Frankivsk
region of Ukraine went down for a reported six hours, leaving about 1.4
million people without power.
The Russian cyber assault on Estonia in 2007 was a blueprint for a
geopolitically inspired and just-deniable-enough digital disruption.
When the Estonian government decided to move a Soviet war memorial from
the center of its capital in Tallin to a military cemetery on the
outskirts of town, Russia responded by encouraging “patriotic hackers”
to engage in a three week long Distributed Denial- Of-Service (DDoS)
attack against numerous sectors of the Estonian economy, including the
government, media, and financial institutions. Russia might,
alternately, hold off on such disruptive attacks in favor of
increasingly aggressive espionage in which Russian state-sponsored
hackers are believed to have compromised the U.S Department of State,
then used that access to penetrate the unclassified network of the
Executive Office of the President. Unlike previous intrusions linked to
Russia, on this occasion the digital spies did not back out of the
system once they were discovered but fought back in order to maintain
their foothold in the network and intrusion which forced the Pentagon to
take the system down for several days. On February 9, 2016, President
Barack Obama announced his Cyber Security National Action Plan, which
proposed investing over $19 billion, 35 percent more than last year, in
cyber security in 2017.
Turkey is reeling under a massive cyber attack purportedly carried out
by the hacker group called Anonymous. The targets of the attacks include
websites of governments and banks. The two-week-long cyber campaign
intensified over financial and state-run sites. These sites have
experienced Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, resulting in
the crippling of transactions. Anonymous claimed responsibility for the
cyber terrorist attacks. Their cyber attacks are mainly targeting
airports, military assets and private state connections in Turkey. More
than 400,000 websites registered under Turkey’s top-level internet
domain “.tr” have experienced problems. The computer servers of
government agencies and private entities have suffered systematic cyber
attacks. It’s likely that Russia is behind the cyber attacks in
retaliation for Ankara’s downing of a Russian jet in November 2015.
Russia is taking the lead in developing a combat doctrine that
encompasses both kinetic and cybernetic activity. In the case of
Ukraine, cyberspace operations enable Russia to continue denying its
involvement with it’s neighbor, while at the same time persisting in
efforts to attack it.
In a climate of growing global awareness of the risks of privacy
breaches in the World Wide Web, the world is increasingly relying on
Israel’s expertise to ward off computer threats and keep information
secure. Combining exceptional high-tech capabilities with skills honed
over decades, contending with the threats over terrorism, its is seen
that Israel were exported more than 3 billion dollar worth of cyber
products in 2015. Furthermore the Israeli government has established the
National Cyber Bureau, which is engaged in target efforts to secure the
cyber front. The NATO Strategic Concept allows for an interesting
window of opportunity and more room for Israel to get closer to NATO.
The aim of the new Strategic Concept is to address NATO’s challenges
and new forms of strategic threats, such as cyber warfare. Israel is
also thinking of a military type of coalition on the basis of Cyber
Article 5, which Israel has a Cyber Article 5 and so does NATO.
Therefore NATO is reassessing the format and structure of its relations
with Israel. In this respect, Israel is assessing its goals with regard
to future relations with its alliances.
Turkey has become a member of the NATO Cooperative
Cyber Defense Center of Excellence (CCDCOE), which focuses on
consultations, training and exercises in the field of cyber security.
NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center is also enhancing capability,
cooperation and information sharing between NATO, its members and its
partners in cyber defense. The fate of NATO’s superiority in the
Euroasian space will be determined by the success of Operation Inherent
Resolve, which is being led by the United States against DEASH from
NATO’s Incirlik Airbase in Turkey. On the other hand, two ılyushin-20
surveillance planes settled into Syrian airspace to provide a major
upgrade for the Russian air fleet of Sukhoi-30 fighter jets. The
Coot-20 can supply Russian forces and commanders with a complete,
detailed electronic activity on the ground and collate the data gathered
and transmit it to the intelligence command center at the Latkia
Airbase, which posses significant threats for Israel in terms of IDF
presence in Golan Heights. In this vein, Turkey, NATO and Israel are
developing a cyber system with capabitity to counteract Russian hybrid
warfare in the Middle East.
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