HYBRID THREATS: A SERIOUS CHALLENGE TO THE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE OF NATO ALLIES

Hybrid warfare may incorporate a wide range of abilities, conventional capabilities, irregular tactics and formations, indiscriminate violence and criminal disorder. All of these undoubtedly can jeopardize the political stability, the economic growth and the availability of essential services. As hybrid warfare is found to be actively used by NATO’s adversaries from 2022, the security challenge faced by the operators of essential services in the EU and NATO became much more significant. Therefore, defense capability, especially cyber security plays a crucial role within NATO member countries. This paper aims to i) show the main elements of NATO’s answer to the hybrid threats, with a focus on cyber security; and ii) provide some recommendations in order to enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure in NATO member states. In this study publicly available documents were explored and relevant literature was examined. As a result, this paper proposes the involvement of operators of essential services in training and exercises in order to enhance the level of resilience against hybrid threats.