NATO warns…The recent WannaCry and Petya violate Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, explaining that such actions could be considered a form of military attack.
NATO claims that there is evidence revealing that both WannaCry and Petya were created by state-sponsored hackers. If cyber attacks caused consequences comparable to an armed attack, the law of armed conflict would apply.
Although no law has been enacted yet, these statements constitute a clear warning to nations that may participate in similar attacks.
"Since important government systems of countries are targeted, it could be considered a violation of sovereignty. Therefore, it could be an internationally illegal act that gives the target states the impetus to counterattack," says Tomáš Minárik, a researcher at NATO's CCD COE Law Branch.
According to NATO officials, there is evidence that WannaCry and Petya originated from a state-sponsored initiative and subsequently incorporated exploits that received enhancements until the final form of the attack was created.
Petya was developed more professionally compared to the weak WannaCry, and instead of scanning the entire internet it is more targeted and seeks to infect local computer networks more deeply after the initial breach.
NATO security experts explain that Petya is a “statement of power” and a demonstration of the tool's acquired destructive capability.
WannaCry and Petya infected thousands of computers, with the latter targeting more organizations and businesses. Ukraine is said to be one of the biggest victims of Petya with thousands of systems infected, including those at the Chernobyl plant.
