MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Spain is ranked third in the world, behind the United States and the UK, for cyberattacks, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said Thursday.
Last year, more than 70,000 cyberattacks were undertaken against Spain, Garcia-Margallo said, at the Cervantes Institute of Madrid, according to La Vanguardia newspaper.
Spain is now adopting new strategies to address cybersecurity threats "in real time," the foreign minister assured.
The minister pointed out that cyberspace is a "space of liberty and expansion of best human capacities."
"The temptation to control and restrict the use of cyberspace, that is so useful for exchanging information, or for development of creativity, with an excuse or a pretext of guaranteeing security, it can be understandable, but can make us commit fatal errors for human progress," Garcia-Margallo said.
Over the course of the last year, several institutions around the world were hit with cyberattacks. Sony Pictures, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the European Central Bank, newspapers and magazines in the UK, email services in Germany and eBay were among the targets.