NATO was historically conceived as a defense pact responding to conventional military threats, whose primary space was geographical borders, airspace and sea lanes. The key principle of collective defense enshrined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty was based on the assumption that aggression would take the form of a physical attack. In the 21st century, however, the focus of conflicts has fundamentally shifted to the digital domain and the cognitive sphere, where it is possible to weaken a state without firing a single shot.

For the first time in history, citizens live simultaneously in two parallel realities – the physical world and the digital world – that are structurally interconnected. If the sovereign protection of the state in cyberspace is not ensured, hybrid threats are directly transmitted to the physical space via social networks, mobile devices and network infrastructure, which can cause political destabilization, economic damage, disruption of critical infrastructure and security incidents with real impacts on the population.

The current Alliance cyber defence architecture is fragmented. Responsibility remains largely at the level of individual member states, whose technological sophistication, capabilities and investments in cybersecurity vary significantly. In an environment of rapid development of artificial intelligence, automated attacks and algorithmically driven information operations, such fragmentation is a strategic weakness. Digital infrastructure is deeply interconnected and transnational, while defence remains segmented and uneven. This mismatch creates structural vulnerabilities, where the weakening of one link can have a cascading impact on the security of the whole.

The construction of a central cyber shield therefore does not represent an institutional superstructure, but a necessary transformation of the security paradigm. The fate of all member states may depend on its functionality, because collective defence no longer takes place only at the borders of the territory, but in a continuous digital space, where public opinion is formed, critical infrastructure is managed and economic and military processes are coordinated. The protection of member states must be ensured not only in physical space, but also in cyberspace as an indivisible operational domain, because it is here that hybrid threats arise, which are subsequently transferred to political, economic and security realities and can fundamentally affect national and international stability.