sailingaway
03-21-2013, 03:36 PM
Hackers who carry out cyberattacks as part of a coordinated military campaign can be targeted as legitimate combatants, even if those individuals are civilian, according to a new NATO cyber warfare handbook.
Targeting of civilian hackers is one of many recommended mandates in the handbook, which also outlines specific rules of engagement for offensive and defensive cyber warfare missions.
The handbook, first reported by The Guardian, was commissioned by the alliance's Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence and included input from U.S. Cyber Command and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The NATO-commissioned handbook is the first major attempt to codify how alliance members will leverage cyber warfare capabilities in the field during future conflicts.
The new manual will be "the most important document in the law of cyber-warfare," NATO legal adviser Col. Kirby Abbott told The Guardian on Thursday. "It will be highly useful."
Aside from targeting civilian hackers, the handbook also puts restrictions on the types of networks alliance members and their allies — including the United States — can strike.
Certain civilian targets such as hospitals, dams, and nuclear power stations have been ruled off limits for NATO or allied-led attacks, according to the handbook.
On the defensive side of cyber operations, NATO calls for "proportionate counter-measures" in response to a strike.
The use of lethal force against hackers or other cyber operatives in response to an attack, according to the handbook, can only be triggered if that attack ended with the deaths of others or significant property damage.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/operations/289683-cyber-hackers-can-be-battlefield-targets-says-nato-report-#.UUtpSwz9S8k.twitter#ixzz2OCvHgV4y
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Targeting of civilian hackers is one of many recommended mandates in the handbook, which also outlines specific rules of engagement for offensive and defensive cyber warfare missions.
The handbook, first reported by The Guardian, was commissioned by the alliance's Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence and included input from U.S. Cyber Command and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The NATO-commissioned handbook is the first major attempt to codify how alliance members will leverage cyber warfare capabilities in the field during future conflicts.
The new manual will be "the most important document in the law of cyber-warfare," NATO legal adviser Col. Kirby Abbott told The Guardian on Thursday. "It will be highly useful."
Aside from targeting civilian hackers, the handbook also puts restrictions on the types of networks alliance members and their allies — including the United States — can strike.
Certain civilian targets such as hospitals, dams, and nuclear power stations have been ruled off limits for NATO or allied-led attacks, according to the handbook.
On the defensive side of cyber operations, NATO calls for "proportionate counter-measures" in response to a strike.
The use of lethal force against hackers or other cyber operatives in response to an attack, according to the handbook, can only be triggered if that attack ended with the deaths of others or significant property damage.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/operations/289683-cyber-hackers-can-be-battlefield-targets-says-nato-report-#.UUtpSwz9S8k.twitter#ixzz2OCvHgV4y
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