Today, an unprecedented number of civilians is becoming involved in armed conflicts through digital means. Civilians – including hacktivists, to cyber security professionals, ‘white hat’, ‘black hat’ and ‘patriotic’ hackers – are conducting a range of cyber operations against their ‘enemy’.

The phenomenon of civilian hackers conducting cyber operations in the context of an armed conflicts is worrying for at least three reasons. 

One, they cause harm to civilian populations, either by targeting civilian objects directly or damaging them incidentally. 

Two, civilian hackers risk exposing themselves, and people close to them, to military operations. 

Three, the more civilians take an active part in warfare, the more the line blurs between who is a civilian and who a combatant. As a result, the risk of harm to civilians.