For the first time, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has published rules of engagement for civilian hackers involved in the conflict.
The organization warns that an unprecedented number of people have joined patriotic cyber gangs since the Ukraine invasion.
The eight rules include a ban on attacks on hospitals, the uncontrolled spread of hacking tools and the creation of terrorist threats among civilians.
But some cyber gangs have told that they intend to ignore the rules.
Global spread
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which oversees and monitors the rules of war, is sending the new rules to hacker organizations particularly involved in the war in Ukraine. The ICRC has also warned hackers that their actions could endanger lives, including their own, if they are seen as legitimate military targets.
Patriotic hacking has been on the rise over the past decade. The ICRC statement highlighted pro-Syrian cyberattacks that targeted Western news media in 2013.
But this worrying trend, accelerated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, is now spreading, said Dr. Tilman Rodenhäuser, legal advisor to the ICRC.
„Some experts consider civilian hacking activities to be ‚cyber vigilantism‘ and argue that their actions are technically unsophisticated and unlikely to have a significant impact,“ he said.