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Hillary Clinton urges Nato to tackle cyberterrorism

Hillary Clinton on Friday urged Nato members to "modernise and strengthen" their alliance by factoring in new threats such as cyberterrorism.

Hillary Clinton urged Nato to factor in cyberterrorism and said Chinese companies would need protection too Photo: GETTY

The US secretary of state said that tanks, bombers and missiles were necessary but "no longer sufficient" to keep Europe and the US safe.

"Our arsenal must also include tools that protect cyber and energy networks, halt the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, counter threats of terrorism and destructive ideologies," she said in a speech in Paris.

Cyberterrorism has become a hot issue since the US last week demanded that China investigate attacks on American-based computers from Chinese soil.

This drew a bristly response from China, which said that any suggestion that it had conducted or condoned the hackers' intrusions was "groundless and aims to denigrate China". Google, the US internet giant, has threatened to leave China – pulling out of an agreement with Beijing to censor its search results after it was the victim of a concerted and sophisticated attack by hackers.

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