Germany to let NATO use its cyber skills
Germany is to join the ranks of NATO countries making its
cyber warfare skills available to the alliance to help fight hacking and
electronic warfare, officials told AFP on 14 February 2019.
NATO has designated cyberspace as a conflict domain
alongside land, sea and air and says electronic attacks by the likes of Russia
and China - but also criminals and so-called ‘hacktivists’ - are becoming more
frequent and more destructive.
German officials used a meeting of defence ministers in
Brussels on 14 February 2019 to tell allies that Berlin would make its cyber
capabilities available, including offensive elements, sources said. The US,
Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands and Estonia have all made their offensive
cyber weapons available to the alliance - and announced it publicly - in the
expectation that the threat of counterattack may deter would-be aggressors.
As with other military resources such as tanks and jets,
alliance members retain control over their cyber capabilities and make them
available to NATO when requested for missions and operations. Targets for
offensive cyber tactics can include anything with an Internet connection,
including computers and smartphones, right up to devices which control key
machinery at power plants and transport networks.
In a sign of the growing importance NATO countries attach to
cyber, this year Britain said it would spend £65 million ($83 million) on
offensive capabilities.