NATO builds cyber defence firewall

By Nigel Chamberlain, NATO Watch

According to the Washington Post on 27 May, a previously undisclosed section of a confidential report prepared for Pentagon leaders by the Defense Science Board revealed that many of the United States most sensitive advanced weapons systems have been compromised by Chinese hackers. Apparently, more than two dozen major weapons systems whose designs were breached were programmes critical to US missile defences and combat aircraft and ships.

Opening the Defence Ministers Meeting on 4 June, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that they would “discuss how we can keep NATO capable – making sure we have the capabilities we need to deal with the challenges we face”. He added that this would be the first ministerial discussion dedicated to cyber defence.

In his press conference after the meeting, Rasmussen told journalists that “today we have agreed how we can move forward in cyber-defence as an Alliance” and, following a detailed report commissioned at the meeting, felt appropriate systems should be fully operational by the autumn. He told journalists that Defence Ministers had adopted a progress report which would establish rapid reaction teams that would help protect NATO's own systems and that requests for support from Member States would be considered in the next phase. He added that cyber security is part of the on-going dialogue between NATO and the EU and that cooperation with private business is important. He stressed that cyber security is first and foremost a national responsibility.

NATO’s website informs us that the protection of the Alliance’s information and communications systems are an urgent task for NATO as its security depends on it:

In June 2011, NATO adopted a new cyber defence policy and the associated Action Plan, which sets out a clear vision of how the Alliance plans to bolster its cyber efforts. …. All NATO structures will be brought under centralised protection and NATO will enhance its capabilities to deal with the vast array of cyber threats it currently faces, including through integrating them into the NATO Defence Planning Process.

In addition, a NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (NATO CCD COE) was formally established in May 2008 in order to enhance NATO’s cyber defence capability. Based in Tallinn, Estonia, the Centre is an international effort that currently includes Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, the Netherlands and the United States as Sponsoring Nations. See NATO Watch briefing of June 2012 ‘Cyber Warfare and NATO’ for more detail.

In a Wall Street Journal article ‘NATO's Next War—in Cyberspace’ on 2 June, Rasmussen said that the Atlantic Alliance protected its members during the age of the Berlin Wall and must now be prepared to protect them during the age of the firewall as borders are open, ideas are free and war can be virtual—but its consequences just as devastating and real. Cyberattacks are a cheap way for terrorists, activists and state-sponsored agents to do extensive damage”.

To defend against such threats, he said that NATO's primary role is to protect its own internal networks, which in 2012 detected over 2,500 cases of abnormal cyberactivity and intrusion attempts. He added that they needed to build on the efforts of the NATO CCD COE, which conducts research, training and regular exercises to test the rapid-response capabilities of allied cyber-units. Rapid Reaction Teams will help protect NATO's own networks in the event of attacks and they could be made available on request to NATO countries. Sharing more information on defence technologies, intelligence and best practices is also being considered. In conclusion, Rasmussen said:

Cyberattacks are a global challenge, and NATO can contribute to a global response. NATO's network of partnerships includes one-third of the world's countries. Working together, we can build a truly secure cybercommunity, one that encourages cooperation between all stakeholders—public and private, state and non-state, civilian and military. In particular, NATO should consider working closer with the European Union where we can, to ensure that our efforts are complementary.

The Independent reported on 3 July that reservists in the British Army will become specialists in cyber security, chemical-biological warfare and intelligence under sweeping reforms being carried out to transform the force in preparation for future conflicts. UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond released a White Paper, ‘Reserves in the Future Force 2020: Valuable and Valued’, on the role of the Territorial Army, whose size is being increased from 19,000 to 30,000 and being renamed the Army Reserves. This enlarged reserve force is expected to have a much more integrated role in countering these new and growing threats.

Mr Hammond said that the changes were ‘key’ to ensuring Britain has the military capability it needs in the coming years and that: “The job we are asking our reservists to do is changing. The way we organise and train them will also have to change". There is also a general recognition that the overwhelming likelihood is that combat for UK forces in the foreseeable future will be counter-insurgency operations.

In his keynote speech at the Land Warfare Conference at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) recently, UK Chief of the General Staff Sir Peter Wall said that the threats presented by cyber space called for the armed forces to “think and act differently. Control of this domain and with it the ability to defend and attack in order to seize the initiative will be prerequisite for successful operations”.

NATO’s CCD COE organised Locked Shields 2013 in April in cooperation with Estonian Defence Forces, Estonian Defence League’s Cyber Unit, Estonian Information System's Authority, Finnish Defence Forces and many other partners. Technical support was received from the private sector, including Cisco, Clarified Networks, Clarified Security and Bytelife. According to the cyber-gaming scenario, the Blue Teams were part of an international coalition force in an unstable country called 'Boolea' and challenged by a strong quasi-religious and well-equipped insurgency. Apparently, the NATO Blue Teams won the Locked Shields 2013 exercise.