Civilians participating in cyber attacks can be legally subjected to response military operations. This was announced at the Munich Conference on Cybersecurity by the adviser to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Mauro Vignati.
Vignati added that the ICRC is concerned about the possibility of undermining humanitarian laws that protect civilians during armed conflicts. According to him, digital volunteers complicate legal calculations.
The adviser mentioned “military activity in cyberspace, which includes, for example, to provide civilians for collecting intelligence information or conducting cyber attacks.”
“Encouraging the participation of the civilian population in cyber activity during an armed conflict may undermine the protection of civilians who must be protected from the consequences of these conflicts. This is why the ICRC strongly recommends that the states cancel the trend of civilization of the digital field of the battle,” said Vignati.