NATO Rapid Reaction Team

Summary

Aim

The aim of creating a NATO Rapid Reaction Team (RRT), is to provide assistance to NATO nations and facilities faced with cyber attacks. It will also be equipped to assist member states, in the event of a significant cyber attack at the national level.

Context

Cyber defence is considered part of the Alliance’s collective defence commitment under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. Cyber threats are becoming more intense and complex. Every day, NATO has to manage more than 200,000,000 events; after analysis, about ten on average turn out to be sophisticated attacks requiring remedial action. The decision to send the RRT to help an Ally is taken by the North Atlantic Council, the Alliance’s highest political decision-making body.

Output

• A small team of civilian members who can be deployed to NATO sites, in order to provide technical assistance or respond to incidents arising from cyber attack. They work out of the NATO cyber defence centre which is situated in Mons, Belgium and is responsible for NATO’s front-line cyber defence.

Outcomes

• Better protection of NATO sites, in operational theatres or in support of an Ally, and technical assistance

Activities

• RRT members take part in NATO exercises in which they practise their ability to respond to a crisis, in realistic conditions. For example,  the international exercise “Locked Shields”, held on 22-23 April 2015 and organised by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, the Alliance’s cyber defence think-tank. During this 48-hour war game, which involved 15 experts from each of the 15 participating nations, he and the other RRT members simulated deployment to a fictitious country under cyber attack.