https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/eu-to-declare-cyber-attacks-act-of/
Members of the European Union have drafted a document stating that cyber attacks by foreign nations could be considered an act of war. They say that members of the EU may respond to cyber attacks with conventional weapons ”in the gravest circumstances”. NATO had previously established cyber a military domain. The document is pretty vague and largely symbolic in nature but highlights the fact that state sponsored cyber attacks are at the forefront of many politicians minds.
Amanda, thanks for sharing this. I heard about this being developed, but that was a while back. Good to get an update on the status of where the EU is on this topic. I believe it is pretty well known that the discussion of whether countries (or the EU) would decide if specific cyber-attacks will be considered an act of ‘war’. My main concern would be the activity of war will be more likely/increase. Also, it has been shown in the news about acts of cyber activity being used against other countries in a war like manner. Like the article said, countries will have some difficulty in confirming if the cyber-attack had any direct link to governmental organizations. As of now, this is always a challenging factor. Even when there is some type of conformation of a foreign government being involved, there is a large amount of denial and maybe even lack/destruction of evidence. Back to the article, the EU is in the process of enforcing this diplomatic document to have the same results as if a foreign country performed acts of war on the EU with non-cyberattack action. If you attack one EU member, you attack all of them. It is important to know that the EU has many strong allies like the U.S. I just wonder if the retaliation will only be a use of cyber-attacks or much more.