Ambassador Gafoor, Excellencies, dear Colleagues,
The International Committee of the Red Cross is grateful for the opportunity to participate in this 10th meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group. We would like to commend this working group for having established a balanced set of common understandings on existing and potential ICT threats.
The ICRC is providing humanitarian services in over 90 countries, many of which are affected by armed conflict. We share the working group’s finding that “ICTs have already been used in conflicts in different regions” and that their use in future conflicts is becoming more likely. For people affected by armed conflict, military ICT activities, or a militarization of ICTs, create an additional risk of harm.
We are deeply concerned about the increase in malicious ICT activities impacting critical civilian infrastructure. While this situation is worrying at all times, the potential human cost of such activities is even more concerning in times of armed conflict. When electricity networks, water treatment facilities, and hospitals are at the brink of collapse because of on-going hostilities, a cyber operation risks pushing systems over the edge.
Likewise, the multiplication of covert information campaigns can undermine trust, fuel conflict, contribute to an escalation of hostilities, and incite acts of violence.
The ICRC also shares the group’s finding that an increasing number of malicious ICT activities are carried out by States and non-State actors. For instance, we are concerned that ransomware attacks are not only carried out by criminal groups but are also becoming a tool or service used by parties to armed conflicts.
The ICRC and many other humanitarian and international organizations have been the target of malicious ICT activities, from cyber operations disrupting our operations to disinformation campaigns. We appreciate the shared concern among delegations, recognizing that malicious ICT activities risk disrupting the ability of humanitarian organizations to conduct their work in a safe, secure and independent manner, and undermine trust in their work.
Mr Chair,
Establishing common understandings of existing and potential threats is an important step towards collectively addressing them. In our view, this group has made significant progress in jointly describing today’s threats; we encourage you to also build further agreement on how to collectively prevent and mitigate them.
Thank you.
We acknowledge Source link for the information.
