Malinauskaitė, Inga

Ten years have already passed since the first cyber security strategies were drawn up in different countries reflecting global cyber security policy. The aim of this scientific article is to analyze the historical development of cyber security strategies of selected EU and NATO countries and to reveal future trends of cyber security policy. The article examines key elements of the selected strategies in the initial cyber security strategies and the description thereof in the already improved cyber security strategies. We selected countries with different allegiances. First, we chose two countries that are members of both the EU and NATO (the Netherlands and Estonia), then a country, which is only a member of NATO, namely, the United Stated of America, thirdly, an EU state, which is not a member of NATO, namely, Finland. We believe the research results may be used for both the development of current cyber security strategies, as well as well as for drafting a cyber security policy.

In the last few decades, the understanding of security has been changing. New areas emerged which may influence security facets, which were not urgent earlier. Now those facets can endanger individual persons or even states. Breaches of cyber security, separate attacks or intense cyber wars are becoming more usual than conventional wars in the physical space; violations of cyber security may cause great damage, ruin businesses or even temporarily paralyze full-fledged functioning of individual states or regions. Many countries of the world, realizing that such a threat is real, adopted Cyber Security Strategies; for some countries, this is not the first version of such a strategy. This article examines the place of Cyber Security Strategies in the system of state documents, the nature and importance of such strategies as well as whether they are binding on individuals and institutions. The article explores in more detail the principles of ensuring cyber security provided for in such strategies, i.e. the principles identified by the states, as important for ensuring cyber security. It is discussed why these principles are so different in the strategies of individual states.