NATO has officially designated cyberspace as an operational warfare domain and confirmed that a cyberattack on any of its allies will be considered an Act of War.
A cyberattack on one of the NATO member states would activate Article 5 and call for a response of the alliance.
The concept was exposed by the NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg to the media.
“A severe cyber-attack may be classified as a case for the alliance. Then NATO can and must react,” Stoltenberg said in an interview to the Bild newspaper.
Stoltenberg explained that the NATO intends to respond to any assault against its members, including a cyber attack that could be considered as an act of war.
All the NATO countries will support each other for the cyber defense of their infrastructure, said Stoltenberg.
The decision was anticipated by Stoltenberg in early June, the final decision will be communicated during the next NATO summit, to be held in Warsaw on July 8-9.
If confirmed this is a historical decision that will radically change the military doctrine in the matter of Information Warfare.
The decision is aligned with the US military strategy, that already recognizes cyberspace as a warzone and that for this reason in 2009 the US Government established the United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) to fulfill tasks related to cyber conflicts.