Cybersecurity in Europe: a take on NATO Article 5 in the light of the Trump-Russia case

Abstract

This research paper tries to answer the question whether the hacking and other cyber intrusions and meddling with the USA presidential race in 2016 by supposedly Russian hackers brings NATO closer to creating a stable legal environment for cases of cyberattacks, namely making cyber-attacks a trigger like any armed attack for invocation of Article 5 (collective defense obligation). The paper looks at the major cyber threats and NATO’s capabilities to counter them and well as the details of the Trump-Russia affair and its effect on the process of paradigm change with regards to collective defense to counter cyber-attacks. The aim of this paper is to present the most up to date information on the issue and warm about the problems (and benefits) of a broad and unstable legal environment that lacks specifics conditions and explicit thresholds.