"NATO to Create Cyber Rapid Response Force, Increase Cyber Defense Aid to Ukraine"
During the NATO summit, NATO announced its plans to create a rapid response cyber force and that it plans to bolster military partnerships with civil society and industry to respond to cyber threats. During the summit, it was decided that NATO will build and exercise a virtual rapid response cyber capability to respond to significant malicious cyber activities. NATO also declared that it would do more to support Ukraine's cyber resilience and defense against Russia. NATO also said they will focus on China as a long-term and mounting cyberthreat. The plan is to significantly strengthen NATO's cyber defenses through enhanced civil-military cooperation. NATO will also expand partnerships with industry. Christ Painter, the former top cyber official in President Barack Obama's State Department, stated that the new declaration is significant for its enhanced focus on cybersecurity. Painter noted that "cyber is now part and parcel of both the threat and the response that NATO is looking at, and that it's no longer some foreign object."