A strong enough cyber attack could even trigger military countermeasures. However, a nuclear attack would require the same scale of destruction in a cyber attack.
20230404 HELSINKI: nato flag, nato flags were raised in the flag boxes in the courtyard of the Ulkoministerio. nato PICTURE PASI LESIMA/IL PASI LEISMA
If a serious cyber attack were to occur in Finland, it could trigger Article 5 of NATO’s collective defense. Cyber teacher at the National Defense University, lieutenant colonel Tom Malmstrom and a cyber security expert who also worked at the NATO headquarters Catharina Candolin told about it For Kaleva
For the article to be triggered, a cyber attack would have to be serious enough to be equivalent to an armed attack. However, there is still no precise definition or precedent for the matter.
– That would be a political decision, Candolin tells Kaleva.
“Scale from diplomacy to nuclear weapons”
If the fifth article were to be used, the NATO member countries would first negotiate on how extensively the cyber attack would be responded to. The answer would not necessarily be a cyber counterattack, but, for example, economic sanctions or armed force.
– The scale is from diplomacy to nuclear weapons, but with the same legality, Candolin says.
However, the counter-attack would not be greater than the disadvantages of the attack in the cyber world.
However, a cyber attack could paralyze electricity networks or sabotage important systems of the Defense Forces. According to Kaleva, for example, during winter’s extreme cold, a prolonged disruption of the electrical system could at worst lead to fatalities, and thus would be equivalent to a military attack.
In cyber attacks, however, it is easier for the attacker to try to influence people’s minds, and not to attack socially important targets.
– The main goal (in cyberattacks) is primarily to change people’s thinking and behavior in a direction favorable to the hostile actor, Malmström states.