NATO Cyber Defence: A Decade of Opportunities and Challenges, Session 1

NATO CCDCOE, William & Mary, and King’s College London were pleased to host the sideline event of the NATO Cyber Defence Pledge conference 2021. This public event, ‘NATO Cyber Defence: A Decade of Opportunities and Challenges’, was held on 16 April 2021. The event featured Dr Antonio Missiroli, Associate Senior Policy Fellow for Emerging Security Threats, Leiden University and the former NATO Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges, and Mr Douglas Jones, Chargé d’Affaires ad Interim at the US Mission to NATO, for forward-looking discussions on NATO’s role in global cyber security. They and other speakers explored the opportunities and challenges for NATO from emerging technologies, and how emerging technologies and the rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape alter the international security environment.
In 2016, NATO leaders endorsed the NATO Cyber Defence Pledge enhancing their national networks and infrastructure; and recognised cyberspace as a domain of military operations. NATO leaders have discussed hardening their national defences in Paris in 2018 and London in 2019. The event brought together leaders from government, academy, the private sector, and new generation leaders to take the discussion further. The first session ‘NATO Cyber Defence and Offence in the International Environment’ explored how Allies align their sovereign interests, capabilities and cyber doctrine with NATO operational requirements and strategic ambitions. The second session ‘Resilience and Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Alliances and Partnerships’ addressed how NATO works with partners to meet the supply chain cybersecurity challenge.
How does NATO use the opportunities from Artificial Intelligence and automation for enchasing cyber defence, and how do sovereign voluntary cyber capabilities fit into collective defence and deterrence? Are Allies prepared mitigating serious supply chain security attacks such as not-Petya and SolarWinds, and how risk mitigation frameworks and standards could alleviate 5G security concerns amid the great power competition with China?