Judy Dempsey asks: Can Europe Deal With Cyberattacks?
Stefan Meister answers:
Probably, but only if EU member states start to take cybersecurity more seriously and learn to cooperate with each other. NATO deals with cyberattacks in its Cooperative Cyberdefense Center of Excellence in Riga, whereas the EU’s East StratCom Task Force deals only with disinformation and is completely underfunded. EU member states need to understand that the warfare of the twenty-first century takes place in cyberspace and that the 2015 cyberattack on the German Bundestag and the hacking of e-mail accounts in the US and French presidential elections are only the tip of the iceberg. Next will be public infrastructure, energy networks, and power stations.
To respond adequately, EU member states must not only update their own infrastructure and protection mechanisms but also cooperate with each other. This is about sharing information as well as pooling know-how and defense strategies. Military operations need military and security answers. Someone has to collect and supervise all the relevant information to protect, respond, and contain in the case of an attack. This requires an institution at the EU level that can coordinate the member states and much better interlocking with the activities of NATO, which has the know-how in this area.
Stefan Meister heads the DGAP's Robert Bosch Center for Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia.
Read the entire blog here.
