Category Archives: NATO

The reason NATO’s recent cyber wargames were so unique

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European and U.S. cyber warriors wargamed unique responses to nation-state attacks in a recent training exercise held by NATO, allowing operators inside simulated civilian networks that illustrate the tactical complexity and legal gray areas that dog cyberwarfare operations in real life. Dubbed Crossed Swords, the exercise was conducted on computer networks of civilian infrastructure providers like phone and power companies in order to simulate an attack hardened military systems. “What we wanted to do is match the real-world environment in which cyber operations take place and show the interdependencies between military and civilian networks,” said Aare Reintam, project manager of technical exercises at the center, “The legal issue were maybe two percent” of what went into the exercise. The exercise, staged by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn, Estonia earlier this month, comes as European countries like Sweden and Italy gear up to combat possible Russian […]

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New global cybersecurity center announced at Davos

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The World Economic Forum announced plans Wednesday to launch a new coordinating group to counter emerging cybersecurity threats and help connect leaders from business and government to collaborate on various security issues as well as share best practices. Named the “Global Centre for Cybersecurity,” the loosely defined, Geneva-based organization will act as a sort of independent, multinational cyberthreat information sharing platform for companies to improve digital security writ large, explained Alois Zwinggi, managing director for the WEF, which is holding its annual gathering for world leaders in Davos, Switzerland, this week. The center will become fully operational in March. Its creation was first announced during a panel discussion Wednesday in Davos. Broadly speaking, governments across the globe have struggled to form information sharing channels with private companies. The model described at Davos is intended to encourage participation on a voluntary basis and not be controlled by any single government. “The new […]

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Western allies consider offensive cyber warfare agreement as Russia launches plan for ‘independent internet’

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Several Western nations are considering an offensive-minded cyberwarfare initiative meant to fundamentally change the way the countries react to attacks from adversary nations, Reuters reports. The accord would guide the deployment of offensive cyberweapons. The agreement, being hammered out by the Denmark, Germany, Norway, Spain, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States, may be solidified by 2019. While all the nations involved are members of NATO, a NATO spokesperson speaking to CyberScoop was careful to point out that this is definitively not a NATO-backed initiative. NATO itself recently announced it will establish new command centers to incorporate the cyber domain into operational planning. The alliance has seen an increasing number of attacks against members and institutions and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg recently said cyber-operations are a potential response any kind of attack against member countries. Irina Novakova, a NATO official, detailed for CyberScoop the alliance’s increasing focus on cyberattacks including the decision that a severe cyberattack could […]

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NATO will establish new cyber command centers

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NATO will establish new cyber command centers allowing the transatlantic alliance to incorporate cyber weapons and security across the board in operational planning, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Wednesday. NATO has been operating within the cyber domain for over a decade at locations like the NATO Cyber Range and the Estonian Cyber Defense Center of Excellence. Last year, the alliance published a mutual cyber defense pledge to ensure alliance members keep pace with the rapid moving domain. In June, the alliance declared cyber an operational domain. In the following month, NATO extended cybersecurity help to Ukraine in the wake of NotPetya ransomware largely targeting Ukrainian institutions. “We are now integrating cyber effects into NATO missions and operations to respond to a changed and new security environment where cyber is part of the threat picture we have to respond to,” Stoltenberg said. “In any military conflict cyber will be an integral part and therefore we […]

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DNC hackers using NATO cyber conference to find phishing targets, researchers find

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Security researchers recently found evidence showing that the same infamous hacking group responsible for last year’s breach at the Democratic National Committee were attempting to spy on people interested in an upcoming D.C.-based cybersecurity conference, according to Cisco’s Talos research team. In a blog post published Sunday, Talos noted that Group 74, otherwise known as APT28 or Fancy Bear recently sent a wave of  spear phishing emails carrying malware-laden Microsoft Word attachments. These malicious emails contained information regarding a conference known as CyCon that’s taking place in early November. The event is produced by the U.S. Army Cyber Institute in collaboration with NATO. The conference often features top leaders from both the U.S. government and other allied nations who help guide cybersecurity relevant policy and missions. “This attack is another example of sophisticated social engineering undertaken by the bad guys in order to trick their intended victims into opening malicious […]

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Smartphones of NATO Soldiers Compromised By Russian Hackers

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By Waqas
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which is universally famous as NATO,
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Charges of political hacking emerge as major German federal election approaches

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It just wouldn’t be a modern day election without the possibility of cyberattacks and international conflict casting a shadow over the process. With the German federal election approaching on Sept. 24, a political ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel said her website was the subject of around 3,000 attempted cyber attacks in the run up to Sunday’s crucial televised debate. Julia Kloeckner, vice chairman of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, did not explain the nature of the attacks but said “many of the senders have Russian IP addresses.” Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) confirmed to CyberScoop they are in contact with CDU over the alleged attacks but could not discuss specific details. The party did not respond to inquiries about the exact nature of the attacks. The vagueness left experts wondering if the thousands of “attacks” are actually something far less severe such as vulnerability scans or a denial of service […]

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NATO extends cybersecurity help to Ukraine in wake of cyberattack

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NATO is extending cybersecurity help to the Ukrainian government following last month’s malware attacks that largely targeted Ukrainian institutions. Standing next to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at a press conference in Kiev on Monday, NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance is “in the process of providing Ukraine with new equipment to some key government institutions” that would “help Ukraine investigate who is behind the different attacks.” Poroshenko claimed to “have evidence that a recent cyberattack was also organized by the Russian Federation.” The Ukrainian president said the country’s goal is to join NATO and asked for discussions to expand the 29-member alliance. In response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine joining the alliance would “not help strengthen stability and security in Europe.” Just last month, Stoltenberg reiterated that a massive cyberattack against a NATO member nation could trigger a military response according to the alliance’s mutual defense guarantee. The position, held by NATO leadership since […]

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U.S. official is first to helm new NATO IT and cyber agency

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Intelligence community management veteran and former Defense Department Deputy Comptroller Kevin Scheid has taken up his new post as general manager of the NATO Communications and Information Agency, NCIA, where he will oversee a multibillion-dollar IT and cybersecurity modernization program for the 29-nation military alliance. NCIA, which operates and defends NATO IT and telecommunications networks, announced the news at the weekend. “I plan to take the first 90 days, like most new heads of large organizations, and do some deep-dives in some key areas, to make sure I understand the status and state of the agency,” Scheid told the NCIA in-house journal. “First, I’ll hold deep dives in the areas of finance … personnel management and the contract issues and how that is progressing, in acquisition, as well as the management of the organization. Do we have the right management structure for the Agency?” Beginning in the fall, Scheid will lead NCIA in a two-year, $3.4 billion IT modernization […]

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Global malware attack ‘most likely’ carried out by a nation-state, NATO-sponsored researchers say

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The search for the source of last week’s global malware attacks continues as experts are increasingly pointing toward Russian involvement in the incident. The NATO-affiliated Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCD COE) in Tallinn, Estonia, concluded last week that the attack was “most likely” carried out by a nation-state. The report followed a string of separate analyses that said the attacks appeared to have Russian sources. CCD COE researchers pointed to the sophistication of the malware. “In the case of NotPetya, significant improvements have been made to create a new breed of ultimate threat,” said one of the researchers, Bernhards Blumbergs. “Among all new features, the malware has been more professionally developed in contrast with sloppy WannaCry, and instead of scanning the whole Internet it is more targeted and searches for new hosts to infect deeper on local computer networks once initial breach has occurred.” The assertion by NATO-sponsored researchers that a nation-state probably spread the malware only intensifies questions […]

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