The decision marks an expansion of the
organisation's remit, reflecting new threats that can disable
critical infrastructure, financial systems and government
without firing a shot.
"Today we declare that cyber defence is part of NATO's core task
of collective defence," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh
Rasmussen told a news conference.
In 2007, a series of crippling cyber attacks paralysed much of
NATO member Estonia in an apparent response to a dispute over
the movement of a Soviet-era war memorial. Most Western experts
suspected the Kremlin was responsible but Russia denied it.
(Reporting by Adrian Croft; editing by Paul Taylor)
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