Report: Cyber-conflicts and Children : UNICEF's New Insights

 

New Insights

How cyberconflict threatens children Cyber-conflict [sahy-ber kon-flikt] noun: “a method of conflict that can not only infiltrate, disrupt, damage or even destroy military or civilian objects, but also cause serious human harm.” The year is 2023 and a once-busy school sits empty. But it’s not the summer – the students here are supposed to be at school. Instead, they are stuck at home because the school has no power – the local electric company has been thrown offline by malicious hackers. And it has no water supply either, because that’s another utility being attacked. And there’s no remote learning option since that, too, has come under virtual fire and has been forced offline. The school, its young students and their parents have no idea that they have become the latest casualty in a new front opening up in modern warfare: operations conducted by a growing number of States and non-State actors who have developed sophisticated – and often devastating – offensive capabilities in cyberspace. This is not a fanciful scenario. Hackers have indeed forced power generators and water suppliers to close down. They have attacked key operations in healthcare – including hospitals. Banks and other key financial services have been hit. They have directly attacked schools and other educational facilities, and those attacks have been rapidly increasing as schools move more and more of their work online. While not all of these attacks have been military or political, they clearly demonstrate their military and political potential. Unlike traditional warfare, cyber warfare makes its threat felt far beyond the physical battlefields of the world. But, like traditional warfare, the victims are often innocent families and their children. Malicious actors can go beyond disrupting essential services, too, sometimes infiltrating key networks to profile children or steal their data, to spread misinformation and disinformation or even to attempt to recruit children to their cause. And yet, this is an issue that still lives in the shadows. Whether it’s a government agency or a private corporation whose services are targeted, few are eager to admit that their systems have come under critical attack. Many are even unsure themselves who has attacked them, or why. Some targets may believe they have a strategic interest in keeping virtual attacks quiet to avoid drawing attention to their vulnerability. There are potential solutions: Existing human rights laws and treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, already offer legal frameworks that can be leveraged to protect the well-being of children as the theatre of cyber warfare expands. Governments should collaborate with the private sector to find new ways of protecting children and their rights. Steps towards greater transparency and accountability will help. But such solutions can only be found – and acted upon – if we first recognize the evolving cyber threat to children and their families. That’s why we decided to analyze these new threats and their potential impact upon children, as well as offer ways to strengthen their protection from these offensive cyber operations.   Click below to read our analysis and help lift the veil on this modern threat to children.

Read the analysis