He fights without rules
Cyber Warfare Rules for Hackers International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) published At the beginning of October 2023. They contain eight points. First of all, they aim to motivate cybercriminals to abandon attacks on civilian targets whose operation is important for the security and well-being of the civilian population.
The rules are:
– Do not attack civilian objects.
– Do not use malware that spreads automatically and attacks military and civilian targets indiscriminately.
– When planning a cyberattack on a military target, do everything possible to prevent or minimize harm to civilians.
– Do not conduct cyber operations against medical and humanitarian aid organizations.
– Do not carry out cyber operations against objects that are necessary for the survival of the population or that may cause the “release of dangerous forces”.
– Do not threaten violence or spread terror among civilians.
– Do not call for violations of international humanitarian law.
– Follow these rules even if the enemy doesn’t.
The ICRC explained to socialbites.ca that its rules are not technical information. These are actually a useful excerpt from the hundreds of existing obligations set out in international humanitarian law (IHL). The rules aim to ensure that hackers and hacktivists are aware of their responsibilities and the dangerous consequences their activities may have on other people.
“The aim is to ensure better knowledge of these rules, as they represent the minimum rules that hackers should know and comply with, and are necessary to protect people’s security and dignity from the negative effects of cyber operations,” the ICRC said.
The organization also noted that the publication of the rules was due to the increase in the number of cyber operations against civilian objects and critical infrastructure (hospitals, educational institutions, transport, fuel and energy complex enterprises – socialbites.ca). The last few years. The context for this trend is not limited to the Russia-Ukraine conflict that begins in 2022.
“For example, hackers carried out cyber operations in Armenia and Azerbaijan, in Israel and the occupied territories, and during armed conflicts in Sudan,” the ICRC said.
Mass attacks by hackers, and especially hacktivists, on civilian targets were confirmed in a conversation with socialbites.ca by Igor Bederov, head of the information and analytical research department of T.Hunter. According to him, this problem became especially evident immediately after the start of SVO.
“We remember how, a day or two after the start of the special operation, the so-called ‘IT army of Ukraine’ was formed, which was the initiator of major DDoS attacks and hacks in Russia.
A significant portion of these attacks specifically targeted civilian infrastructure: schools, universities, banks, media, utilities, etc. So yes, hacktivists often and deliberately interfere with the lives of civilians,” the expert said.
Bederov also emphasized that the actions of hacktivists during cyber warfare are not limited to hacking, DDoS attacks and fraud. According to him, cyber troops are also engaged in information and psychic attacks: sending fakes, intimidating the public, provocation and more.
To a foreign monastery
In the beginning, many hacker and hacktivist groups accepted ICRC rules are hostile. For example, the “Ukrainian IT Army” expressed concern that compliance with the proposed norms could put one of the counterparties in an unequal situation. Pro-Russian Killnet also initially opposed it. Anonymous Sudan said that the hackers’ work inevitably led to violations of ICRC rules in principle, so they were not valid.
Some of these groups changed their minds over time. For example, the “Ukrainian IT Army” and Killnet openly accepted the ICRC rules and promised to adhere to them in the future. However, there are still those who do not want to serve the ICRC.
“The ICRC needs to get to work urgently and reinvent the wheel, not go crazy by idleness. For example, if the CIA needs something, it will trample all kinds of international norms, laws and regulations.
I also advise the Red Cross not to intervene here. This is not their territory, what they say here has no weight and they themselves have absolutely no understanding of what they are talking about,” Hash, the leader of the hacker group Zarya, told socialbites.ca.
According to Hash, the ICRC rules do not introduce anything new because hackers already have policies that prohibit harming civilians. Hash guarantees that pro-Russian hackers rarely touch other people’s civilian infrastructure.
“For this to happen, something extraordinary needs to happen: refusal to treat Russians abroad, refusal to provide first aid and other dire situations. We hackers [свои] Charter. “There is a concept of honor and there is morality,” said the hacker.
Igor Bederov does not believe that any cybercriminal will comply with ICRC rules. Precisely because cyberspace is a space free of rules and the subjects in it (hackers and hacktivists) are not controlled by anyone. The expert is also skeptical of hackers’ claims about specific rules in their communities.
“The hackers’ statements about honor and morality are shocking. Aren’t these qualities often found in ordinary people, let alone criminals? Objectively viewed, hackers and hacktivists are criminals. Yes, concepts exist in the cybercriminal community. “However, these concepts are not intended to harm someone, but to protect their back,” he said.
According to Bederov, the ICRC rules are good in a vacuum because they cover almost all of the problems raised by hacktivists as a phenomenon. But these will not be implemented until hacking and hacktivism are formalized at the legislative level.
“Who do hacktivists report to? Officially, there is no one. Who should check these? Officially, there is no one. Who is responsible for hacktivists’ violations of international humanitarian law (IHL)? “There is no one because hacktivists do not obey the state,” he explained.
It’s not time to give up
Although the publication of the ICRC’s cyberwarfare rules has not received unanimous approval from the cybercrime community, the charity does not intend to abandon its attempts to influence hackers to improve the safety and well-being of civilians. For example, the ICRC is working on digitizing the Red Cross emblem, which should also protect civilian objects from hackers because it already protects them from real-world military attacks.
Under IHL, medical and humanitarian infrastructure is legally protected against attack during armed conflict. To signal such protection, the ICRC uses large Red Cross signs. This way, the army can see, for example, that there is a hospital with a red cross nearby and cannot shoot at it.
“However, it is currently impossible to place the Red Cross emblem in cyberspace to do the same thing. [защитить от атак] It has critical digital infrastructure for medical and humanitarian organizations. “The ICRC is therefore working with a range of partners to understand how this might be possible, and we want to ensure broad international support for our initiative.”
The ICRC also announced that a special delegation on cyberspace issues will be formed in Luxembourg, consisting of experts in the field of cybersecurity. The aim of the project is to maintain contact with hackers and hacktivists to further the charity’s goals.