BRUSSELS, May 15 (Xinhua) -- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Paris that cyber defense was a priority for the alliance.

"In recent years, we have seen many large scale cyber attacks," the NATO chief said, adding that the alliance was adapting to these new challenges, according to a full text of his speech posted on NATO's website.

He said NATO allies share information about cyber threats in real-time and work with the European Union (EU) on cyber defense.

"NATO cyber rapid reaction teams are on standby to assist allies, 24 hours a day. And the NATO center of excellence for cyber defense in Estonia leads on research, education and training," he added.

In 2014, NATO leaders agreed that a cyber attack could trigger Article 5 of its founding treaty. "Where an attack on one ally is treated as an attack on all allies," Stoltenberg noted.

In 2016, NATO leaders designated cyber space as an operational domain, in addition to land, air and sea.