UK law chief: Treat cyberattacks the same way as bombs

LONDON – Britain’s attorney general says cyberattacks on key infrastructure could be just as deadly as armed attacks, and should be treated in the same way under international law.

Jeremy Wright says cyberattacks on nuclear reactors or air-traffic control towers could have “the same ultimately lethal effects” as a bomb and should “give rise to an inherent right to take action in self-defence.”

He said in a speech Wednesday that countries should also be able to retaliate against “peacetime cyberattacks which manipulate and alter the results of elections.”

Wright said the response must be “necessary and proportionate” and could not include force.

In February, Britain blamed Russia for a cyberattack that hit businesses across Europe last year. North Korea has been blamed for another 2017 attack that hit Britain’s National Health Service.