The Red Cross dials up Cyber commentary
Civilian hackers exploiting the blind eyes of state actors. Or, maybe, not that at all.
We mentioned in a prior life that the International Committee of the Red Cross had put out a list of rules about how "civilian hackers" should comport themselves in cases of armed conflict. Notwithstanding the porous term "civilian hacker," the basic message was "don't seek to harm civilians, directly or indirectly, even if the enemy does."
Recently the ICRC released a statement titled "We call on States to stop turning a blind eye to the participation of civilian hackers in armed conflict," which pretty much sums up their point.
The argument could be made that while some states may be "turning a blind eye," most are in fact directly funding and otherwise supporting "civilian hackers" – making the term, and the plea from the ICRC, feel increasingly off the mark.
The Blackler Group, to be clear, believes the ICRC's guidelines to be rational and even a little (albeit accidentally) prescient. However decisionmakers need to consider the implications of current and future global conflict to their organizations (to the infrastructure and supply chains on which they rely, to the vagaries of the marketplace and the tides of public attention, to the risk of one's brand getting caught up i a fight one thought was far away) when, not if, "civilian hackers" flout the rules laid down by the ICRC.