State-linked hackers are increasingly targeting critical sectors with no signs of stopping.
NATO countries’ restrained response to hybrid attacks is at odds with public opinion, new polling shows: Broad swaths of the public in key allied countries say actions such as cyberattacks on hospitals should be considered acts of war.
The POLITICO Poll, conducted in the United States, Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, showed a majority of people agreed that a cyberattack that shuts down hospitals or power grids constitutes an act of war. Canadians felt the strongest about the issue, with 73 percent agreeing.
Respondents from all five countries also rallied behind the idea that sabotaging undersea cables or energy pipelines — which has occurred more frequently in recent years — should be considered be an act of war.
It’s no different than doing it with any other weapon. If a spy went and cut a hospital’s power supply, the government would be apoplectic. If they do it with a computer instead of an axe, car, or bomb, the reaction should be the same.