The Secretary of State for Defence has made no recent representations to NATO with respect to cyber defence. The UK MOD is represented at various NATO Cyber Defence symposiums and workshops throughout the year. These meetings include the annual NATO Information Assurance Symposium and the two NATO Cyber Defence Workshops that are held bi-annually.
[holding answer 27 October 2008]: Although we do not have specific definitions for the term cyber terrorism and cyber warfare, we have produced assessments and developed policies in specific areas related to this terminology.
The MOD works in close co-operation with those Government Departments and agencies engaged in assessing threats to the UK. The classification of these assessments prohibits disclosure of their content.
The information is as follows:
(a) NATO does not currently have a Cyber Defence legal framework although they plan to have in the future. The scope and contents of this framework are to be discussed by the NATO Cyber Defence management board meeting this week. The MOD will assist in the development of this document through its drafting process.
(b) The NATO Cyber Defence Policy and the Cyber Defence Concept were approved by the North Atlantic Council (NAC) earlier this year. The NATO Cyber Defence Management Authority (CDMA) was given approval by the NAC in March 2008 and the Concept of Operations for the CDMA are to be approved in this month. The MOD assisted in the development of these documents through their drafting process to final version.