Page 11 - The Indian EYE 021723

OPINION FEBRUARY 17, 2023 | The Indian Eye 11

halt its service while Russian internet
company, Yandex, is transferring
most of its businesses out of Russia
to avoid sanctions.
Another point to ponder upon
is the role of state-sponsored and
state-sanctioned hacking groups and
individuals in the cyber conflict. Rus-
sia is home to many hacking groups
which are perceived to be sponsored
by the intelligence agencies. These
groups have been used to disrupt
critical infrastructure, steal sensitive
information, and spread disinforma-
tion. Intelligence agencies such as
the GRU (Main Directorate of the
General Staff of the Armed Forces
of the Russian Federation) and the
FSB (Federal Security Service) have
strived to maintain a furtive relation-
ship with groups such as Killnet, seen
to be responsible for many cyber-at-
tacks on Ukraine and other countries
supporting Ukraine. Many Russian tech companies have suffered collateral damage from the sanctions imposed on Russia as well as
This approach worked well in an the internet control laws in the country (File photo)
era of low intensity conflict, but has
come short in this current conflict Ukraine have been put to good use, different blocs had begun to dig in vulnerabilities faced by countries in
because the command and control is there is a huge question mark over their heels. depending on the virtual monopoly
too diversified, and the emphasis is the legality of their use in an active Whilst the final outcome of the of these companies in the tech space,
more on disinformation and disrup- war situation. Much of the progress conflict is yet to be determined, the reminiscent of the dependence on
tive activities than achieving strategic on paper of framing rules of the road needle has moved when it comes to semiconductors that came to the fore
goals. The decentralized plausible for cyberspace has been rendered in- certain aspects of cyber conflict. The in the past year. Like with semicon-
deniability approach which has been fructuous by these activities. In fact, cyber-warriors of all hues and shades ductors, there are few viable immedi-
Russia’s default position with the in- the ongoing UN processes such as will continue to carry out their opera- ate workarounds for these dependen-
telligence agencies being at the fore the Open-Ended Working Group tions from the shadows, however the cies. Going forward, it is likely though,
is not an optimum set-up in a kinet- (OEWG) have become sites of proxy current conflict shows that a com- that technologies and their vendors
ic conflict situation since there is no attacks by one side against the other, mand-and-control structure goes fur- will be less seen as global public goods
clarity on who is exactly in charge. and is seeping into the process itself. ther in achieving strategic objectives. and will be subject to many tests of
This has led to confusion over the The decades-long process to evolve Mission creep is something that can credibility and reliability.
strategic aims of these attacks and norms of state behavior through vari- only be avoided through well laid-out The events so far show that cy-
ineffective information diffusion to ous UN processes could possibly suf- objectives and clearly delineated re- ber resilience is viable and cyberwar
cater to the tactical and operational fer quite a bit of collateral damage as sponsibilities. still remains a foggy concept. Words
requirements of the military. a result of the conflict, with the op- Tech companies have shown their and phrases like holistic and whole-
On the Ukrainian side, the gov- posing sides taking pot shots at each indispensability maintaining the resil- of-nation, and public–private part-
ernment has encouraged the forma- other becoming the main spectacle ience of the Ukrainian networks and nership might have become cliches
tions of the “Ukrainian IT army”, at these meetings. In any case, there critical infrastructure but, on the flip in the context of cyber security, but
made up largely of patriotic hackers was glacial progress being made as side, it has also served to highlight the these are the approaches that work.
and cyber vigilante organizations International co-operation in fram-
from around the world. They have ing rules of the road for cyberspace
been engaged in similar actions di- might be at its lowest point, in which
rected against Russian entities. All case, there is no way to go but up.
these largely illegal activities can be Winners and losers might be a rela-
considered a setback in the quest tive term here but there are enough
for setting rules of the road in cyber- lessons to be learnt from the conflict.
space through norms of state behav-
ior, since these activities are being Dr Cherian Samuel is Research Fellow
both condoned and encouraged not at Manohar Parrikar Institute for De-
just by Ukraine but also by Ukrainian fense Studies and Analyses, New Delhi
allies such as the United States. The Views expressed are of the author and
NATO-sponsored The Tallinn Man- do not necessarily reflect the views of
ual goes into great detail on how to the Manohar Parrikar IDSA or of the
adapt international humanitarian law Government of India.
to cyber activities during wartime, in-
cluding distinguishing between mil- This article first appeared in the
itary and civilian actors and targets On the Ukrainian side, the government has encouraged the formations of the Comments section of the website (www.
but none of that seems to make a “Ukrainian IT army”, made up largely of patriotic hackers and cyber vigilante organizations idsa.in) of Manohar Parrikar Institute
difference in the current free-for-all. from around the world (File photo) for Defense Studies and Analyses, New
Though these cyber vigilantes by Delhi on February 7, 2023

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