The critical infrastructure and essential services on which modern economies depend rely increasingly on information and communication technologies (ICT). Most global, transatlantic and regional international organisations (UN, NATO, the EU, G8, OSCE, OECD, ITU, ICANN, AU, ASEAN, OAS, etc.) have developed policies and instruments to address the growing sophistication of cyber attacks against critical infrastructures and services. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the approaches of NATO and the EU to cyber security.
The critical infrastructure and essential services on which modern economies depend rely increasingly on information and communication technologies (ICT). Most global, transatlantic and regional international organisations (UN, NATO, the EU, G8, OSCE, OECD, ITU, ICANN, AU, ASEAN, OAS, etc.) have developed policies and instruments to address the growing sophistication of cyber attacks against critical infrastructures and services. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the approaches of NATO and the EU to cyber security.
For both NATO and the EU, cyber security is a strategic issue that impacts the security and defence of member states and of the organisations themselves. They both prioritize the resilience and defence of their own networks, organisations and missions, leaving cyber security of individual members states a national responsibility. The missions of the two organisations are complementary, with NATO focusing on security and defence aspects of cyber security, and the EU dealing with a broader, mainly non-military range of cyber issues (Internet freedom and governance, online rights and data protection), and internal security aspects.
Continue reading: Improving Cyber Security: NATO and the EU