In the event of cyber attacks, Russia authorizes military strikes against Baltic nations

[Musburger1]

More Russian aggression. The Kremlin has stated that if NATO countries employ cyber attacks against Russia, Russia will consider launching military responses against NATO. Can this be justified?

 

[Seattle Husker]

More Russian aggression. The Kremlin has stated that if NATO countries employ cyber attacks against Russia, Russia will consider launching military responses against NATO. Can this be justified?

More bluster from the Russians and their proxy, Musburger. In a "hey, look at me!" moment they must be disheartened that the worlds focus is on the BREXIT, Orlando massacre and the US POTUS election. This is stated as the Russians reportedly hack into the DNC according one Internet monitoring firm.

 

[Musburger1]

More bluster from the Russians and their proxy, Musburger. In a "hey, look at me!" moment they must be disheartened that the worlds focus is on the BREXIT, Orlando massacre and the US POTUS election. This is stated as the Russians reportedly hack into the DNC according one Internet monitoring firm.

I was waiting for someone to take the bait. The real story is just the opposite of what I constructed.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0Z12NE

Massive cyber attack could trigger NATO response: Stoltenberg

BERLIN (Reuters) - A major cyber attack could trigger a collective response by NATO, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview published by Germany's Bild newspaper on Thursday.

"A severe cyber attack may be classified as a case for the alliance. Then NATO can and must react," the newspaper quoted Stoltenberg as saying. "How, that will depend on the severity of the attack."

He spoke after a decision this week by NATO ministers to designate cyber as an official operational domain of warfare, along with air, sea, and land.

In 2014 the U.S.-led alliance assessed that cyber attacks could potentially trigger NATO'S mutual defense guarantee, or Article 5. That means NATO could potentially respond to a cyber attack with conventional weapons, although the response would be decided by consensus.


The NATO chief told Bild that the alliance needed to adjust to the increasingly complex series of threats it faces, which is why NATO members have agreed to defend against attacks in cyberspace just as they do against attacks launched against targets on land, in the air and at sea.

The United States and other NATO states have become increasingly vocal about cyber attacks launched from Russia, China and Iran, but officials say it remains hard to determine if such attacks stem from government bodies or private groups.

Recognizing cyber as an official domain of warfare will allow NATO to improve planning and better manage resources, training and personnel needs for cyber defense operations, said a NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official stressed that NATO's cyber activities would remain purely defensive. "We have no offensive cyber doctrine or offensive cyber capability. And there are no plans for NATO as a body to use such capabilities. NATO's core cyber defense task is to defend NATO's own networks," said the official.

Individual members have already declared cyber an operational warfare domain, including the United States, which said in 2011 that it would respond to hostile attacks in cyberspace as it would to any other threat.



(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Dan Grebler and Mark Heinrich)​

 

[Seattle Husker]

You got me because it was believable based on the recent Russian statements. Whether it came from Russia or NATO, it's still empty bluster. Unless Russia attacked the power grid in Europe/US all the leaders know that this is an empty threat. If Russia is dumb enough to attack the power grid then they'd also know war would ensue, just as if the US did the same to Russia. And has the US or NATO threatened a cyber attack?

 

[Musburger1]

No, I don't think either has threatened a cyber attack, but the definition of a cyber attack is quite broad. Taking down a government server is magnitudes smaller than attaching the grid or the financial system.

Most probably either the US or Israel launched a cyber attack against Iran's nuclear facilities a few years back. Iran doesn't have the capability to respond to something like that other than to shut the shipping lanes but that would lead to a shooting war.