Cyberattacks on NATO's network and facilities have skyrocketed over the past year — with 500 attacks logged every month in 2016, the alliance's top diplomat says.
In comments published Thursday in the German newspaper Die Welt, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the 2016 figure represents a 60-percent increase over the previous year, and were mostly "sponsored by state institutions in other countries," broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported.
"They [attacks] can harm NATO's defense capability and obstruct the work of our armed forces," Stoltenberg said, adding the attacks could impact NATO's medical or energy supplies as well as military data exchanges in general.
"Our systems register over 500 million suspicious cyber events each day," NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu told CNN.
"Foreign governments, criminals and terrorists can all be the source of cyberattacks, and attribution can be difficult," she added. "But of course, nations have the largest resources in the cyber field, and they are responsible for the majority of targeted attacks against NATO networks."
Though President-elect Donald Trump has called the military alliance "obsolete," the NATO secretary general emphasized the alliance's adaptability in the face of new threats, like cyber attacks, CNN reported.
Stoltenberg's comments come amid increased concerns over security following the U.S. intelligence community's findings that Russia directed cyber attacks against electoral organizations.
U.S. officials have also warned that Russia may mount similar cyber campaigns against targets in Europe, CNN reported.
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