Cyber IHL podcast

While digital networks and technologies continue to bring benefits and convenience into our life, there is also an increasing concern about the security of cyberspace as critical infrastructures heavily rely on such digital networks. Essential services such as health care systems, electricity grids or nuclear facilities might thus be entirely disrupted by cyber operations.

The human cost of cyber operations could thus be extremely high. And while most instances of cyber-attacks, internet viruses, and hacking reported in the media have occurred in peacetime, the risk is also particularly acute in the context of armed conflict.

Cyber operations during armed conflicts have indeed become a reality and are likely to be more prominent in the future. This reality raises many critical questions, being humanitarian and legal. In particular, as International Humanitarian Law (IHL) remains the main body of law applicable to armed conflicts, it appears critical to understand how and when IHL shall govern cyber operations led in the context of armed conflict.

In this episode of the Asia Pacific International Humanitarian Law Podcast, Sahar Haroon, Regional Legal Adviser for Southeast Asia with the ICRC discusses those hot questions with four prominent experts from the different states in the region: Professor Sheng Hongsheng, Professor of Law at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law in China, Mr. Hossein Sayyadnejad, Expert at the International Legal Department within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Mr. Harditya Suryawanto, Counselor with the Directorate of International Security and Disarmament at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, and Mr. Tom Uren, Editor of Seriously Risky Business.

Bringing various perspectives to the discussion, the four experts discuss the definition of cyber operations and their potential human cost before digging into the debated question of the application of IHL to cyber operations led in times of armed conflict.

Recorded on 8 February 2021