The European Union (EU) will directly punish hackers, after governments agreed on Friday a new mechanism to pursue them anywhere in the world, freeze their assets in member states and ban their entry into the community territory.
The new measures, pushed by Britain and the Netherlands over initial reluctance from Italy, are intended to enable the 28-nation bloc to react more quickly to cyberattacks that threaten to take down crucial infrastructure.
"This is a decisive action to deter future cyber attacks.”, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a statement.
Just days before the European Parliament elections, which will take place between 23 and 26 May, the authorities are on alert for any attempt to boycott the vote through disinformation campaigns and cyberattacks.
Although no specific names were given, the EU says the sanctions mechanism will allow the bloc to react quickly to punish future attacks, rather than continuing with the current system of special country lists, which are complex to negotiate.
Russia has made cyber warfare a key element of its military operations, according to Western officials. Britain, the Netherlands and the United States have accused Moscow of waging a hacking campaign against the West.
EU and NATO diplomats believe that China and North Korea, like Russia, have developed sophisticated hacking weapons and cyber surveillance software to spy on and undermine the stability of Western countries, often using criminal groups to mask the origin of such attacks.
The EU cyber plan introduces a sanctions mechanism similar to that used to punish chemical weapons attacks, which targets individuals accused of using banned munitions regardless of their nationality. A separate sanctions mechanism has been envisaged for perpetrators of human rights abuses.
Source: Reuters
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