Protecting cyberspace: hybrid threat requires a hybrid response

As the 2015 Defence White Paper makes clear, the traditional concept of national security has broadened considerably over the past 20 years. Threats are more diverse, less visible and much less predictable. Examples include regional conflicts, organised crime, terrorism, state failure and state collapse. These ‘emerging’ security challenges - sometimes called asymmetric challenges - are becoming increasingly diverse. Energy security, climate change, health pandemics, forced migration and human trafficking, the displacement of large numbers of people due to internal conflicts within their own countries - are just some of examples. They have a direct effect on the Defence Forces and the security of the State, both here in Ireland and in the many regions of the world in which the Defence Forces operate. As Madeleine Albright former US Secretary of State said in her report ‘NATO 2020 New Strategic Concept’, the boundary between military and non-military threats is becoming blurred. Issues that were once considered matters which had nothing to do with the military are becoming central to the threats we face here and abroad.