• E4J University Module Series: Cybercrime

• Module 14: Hacktivism, Terrorism, Espionage, Disinformation Campaigns and Warfare in Cyberspace

• Introduction and learning outcomes

• Key issues

• • Hacktivism
  • Cyberespionage
  • Cyberterrorism
  • Cyberwarfare
  • Information warfare, disinformation and electoral fraud
  • Responses to cyberinterventions as prescribed by international law
  • Conclusion
  • References

• Exercises

• Possible class structure

• Core reading

• Advanced reading

• Student assessment

• Additional teaching tools

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• First published in June 2019
  

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   This module is a resource for lecturers   

 

References

 

Publications and media articles

• Abdollah, Tami. (2017). US designates election infrastructure as 'critical'. Associated Press, 7 January 2017.
• Alouane, Rim-Sarah. (2018). Macron's Fake News Solution is a Problem. Foreign Policy, 29 May 2018. 
• Aufderheide, Patricia. (1993). Conference report. National leadership conference on media literacy. Washington, DC: Aspen Institute.
• Banas, John A. and Gregory Miller. (2013). Inducing Resistance to Conspiracy Theory Propaganda: Testing Inoculation and Metainoculation Strategies. Human Communication Research, Vol. 39(2), 184-207.
• Banks, William. (2017). State Responsibility and Attribution of Cyber Intrusions After Tallinn 2.0. Texas Law Review, Vol 95(7), 1487-1513.
• Bencsáth, Boldizsár. (2012). Duqu, Flame, Gauss: Followers of Stuxnet. RSA Conference Europe 2012.
• Berger, J. M. (2014). How ISIS Games Twitter. The Atlantic, 16 June 2014. 
• Beyer, Jessica L. (2014). The Emergence of a Freedom of Information Movement: Anonymous, WikiLeaks, the Pirate Party, and Iceland. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 19(2), 141-154.
• Brewster, Thomas. (2018). Disturbing Smartphone Hacks Hit Saudi Activists Via WhatsApp, Forbes, 1 August 2018.
• Business Ghana. (2018). Vice President Launches Cyber Security Awareness Campaign.
• CERT Insider Threat Center. (2016). Common Sense Guide to Mitigating Insider Threats, Fifth Edition. Technical Note CMU/SEI-2015-TR-010.
• Compton, Joshua and Michael Pfau. (2005). Inoculation Theory of Resistance to Influence at Maturity: Recent Progress in Theory Development and Application and Suggestions for Future Research. Annals of International Communication Association, Vol. 29(1), 97-146.
• Conway, Maura. (2002). Reality Bytes: Cyberterrorism and Terrorist 'Use' of the Internet. First Monday 7(11),
• Cook, John. (2017). Inoculation theory: Using misinformation to fight misinformation. The Conversation, 14 May 2017. 
• Cook, John, Stephan Lewandowsky and Ullrich K. H. Ecker. (2017). Neutralizing misinformation through inoculation: Exposing misleading argumentation techniques reduces their influence. PLOS ONE, Vol. 12(5), 1-21.
• Daniels, Gilda R. (2010). Voter Deception. Indiana Law Review, Vol. 43, 343-387 
• Alvarez, R. Michael, Thad E. Hall, and Susan D. Hyde. (2008). Introduction: Studying Election Fraud. In Alvarez, R. Michael, Thad E. Hall, and Susan D. Hyde (eds.). Election Fraud: Detecting and Deterring Electoral Manipulation. Brookings Series on Election Administration and Reform. Brookings Institution Press.
• Denning, Dorothy E. (2001). Activism, Hacktivism, and Cyberterrorism: The Internet as a Tool for Influencing Foreign Policy. In John Arquilla and Dadvid F. Ronfeldt (eds). Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy (pp. 239-288), RAND.
• Denning, Dorothy E. (2000). Cyberterrorism. Testimony before the Special Oversight Panel on Terrorism Committee on Armed Services U.S. House of Representatives. 
• Denning, Dorothy E. (2015). The Rise of Hacktivism. Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, 8 September 2015.
• Der Derian, James. (1992). Antidiplomacy: Spies, Terror, Speed, and War, 1st Edition. Wiley-Blackwell.
• Fidler, David P. (2012). Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Duqu: Why Cyberespionage is More Than You Think. Informational Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection, Vol. 5, 28-29.
• Funke, Daniel (2018). A guide to anti-misinformation actions around the world. Poynter, 25 September 2018. 
• G7. (2017). Declaration on Responsible States Behavior in Cyberspace. Lucca, Italy (11 APRIL 2017). 
• Gathright, Jenny. (2018). Kenya's Crackdown on Fake News Raises Questions About Press Freedom. NPR, 19 May 2018. 
• Gill, Terry D. (2013). Non-Intervention in the Cyber Context. In Katharina Ziolkowski (ed.). Peacetime Regime for State Activities in Cyberspace International Law, International Relations and Diplomacy (pp. 217-238).
• Goodin, Dan. (2010). 'Virtual sit-in' tests line between DDoS and free speech. The Register, 9 April 2010. 
• Gordon, Sarah and Richard Ford. (2003). Cyberterrorism?  Symantec.
• Graham, Chris. (2017). Cyber attack hits German train stations as hackers target Deutsche Bahn. Telegraph, 13 May 2017. 
• Greenberg, Andy. (2017). The Wannacry Ransomware Hackers Made Some Real Amateur Mistakes. Wired, 15 May 2017. 
• Halliday, Josh and Charles Arthur. (2010). WikiLeaks: Who are the hackers behind Operation Payback? The Guardian, 8 December 2010. 
• Hampson, Noah C.N. (2012). Hacktivism: A New Breed of Protest in a Networked World. Boston College International and Comparative Law Review, Vol. 35(2), 511-542. 
• Hasen, Richard L. (2014). Super PAC contributions, corruption, and the proxy war over coordination. Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Vol. 9, pp. 1-22
• Himma, Kenneth Einar (ed.). (2007). Internet Security: Hacking, Counterhacking, and Society. Jones and Bartlett.
• Hobbs, Renee. (1998). The Seven Great Debates in the Media Literacy Movement. Journal of Communication, Vol. 48(1), 16-32.
• Jarvis, Lee and Stuart Macdonald. (2014). Locating Cyberterrorism: How Terrorism Researchers Use and View the Cyber Lexicon. Perspectives on Terrorism Vol. 8(2), 52-65.
• Jarvis, Lee and Stuart Macdonald. (2015). What Is Cyberterrorism? Findings From a Survey of Researchers. Terrorism and Political Violence, Vol. 27(4), 657-678.
• Jarvis, Lee, Stuart Macdonald, and Lella Nouri. (2014). The Cyberterrorism Threat: Findings from a Survey of Researchers. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Vol. 37(1), 68-90.
• Kirk, Jeremy. (2011). "Night Dragon" Attacks From China Strike Energy Companies. PC World, 10 February 2011. 
• Klimburg, Alexander. (2012). National Cybersecurity Framework Manual. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence.
• Laville, Sandra. (2012). Anonymous cyber-attacks cost PayPal £3.5m, court told. The Guardian, 22 November 2012.
• Lemay, Antoine, John Calvet, Francois Menet, and Jose M. Fernandez. (2018). Survey of publicly available reports on advanced persistent threat actors. Computers and Security, Vol. 72, 26-59.
• Li, Xiang. (2013). Hacktivism and The First Amendment: Drawing the Line Between Cyber Protests and Crime. Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, Vol. 27(1), 301-330.
• Libicki, Martin. (2017). The Coming of Cyber Espionage Norms. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Cyber Conflict, CyCon IX: Defending the Core, NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE), 1.
• Lin, Herb and Trachtman, Joel. (2018). Using International Export Controls to Bolster Cyber Defenses. Discussion Draft. 10 September 2018.
• López-Pintor, Rafael. (2010). Assessing Electoral Fraud in New Democracies: A Basic Conceptual Framework. White Paper Series. International Foundation for Electoral Systems.
• Lubin, Asaf. (2018). Cyber Law and Espionage Law as Communicating Vessels. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Cyber Conflict, CyCon X: Maximising Effects, NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE), 203.
• Maras, Marie-Helen. (2014). Computer Forensics: Cybercriminals, Laws, and Evidence, 2 ^nd edition. Jones and Bartlett.
• Maras, Marie-Helen. (2012). Counterterrorism. Jones and Bartlett.
• Maras, Marie-Helen. (2016). Cybercriminology. Oxford University Press.
• Marlatt, Greta. E. (2008). Information Warfare and Information Operations (IW/IO): A Bibliography.
• Maurer, Tim. (2018). Cyber Proxies and Their Implications for Liberal Democracies. The Washington Quarterly, Vol. 41(2), 171-188.
• MI5. (nd.). Espionage.
• Morgan, Susan. (2018) Fake news, disinformation, manipulation and online tactics to undermine democracy, Journal of Cyber Policy, Vol. 3(1), 39-43.
• Morozov, Evgeny. (2011). The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom. Public Affairs.
• Morrelli, Vincent L. and Archick, Kristin. (2016). European Union Efforts to Counter Disinformation. CRS Insight. 
• Myres S. McDougal, Harold D. Lasswell and W. Michael Reisman. (1973). The Intelligence Function and World Public Order. Faculty Scholarship Series. 665.
• Newman, Lily Hay. (2018). The Leaked NSA Spy Tool That Hacked the World. Wired, 3 July 2018. 
• Ngak, Chenda. (2013). 13 members of hacking group Anonymous indicted over 'Operation Payback'. CBS News, 3 October 2013. 
• OECD. (2012). Cybersecurity Policy Making at a Turning Point: Analysing a New Generation of National Cybersecurity Strategies for the Internet Economy.
• Peterson, Andrea. (2015). Forbes Web site was compromised by Chinese cyberespionage group, researchers say. Washington Post, 10 February 2015.
• Peterson, Andrea. (2016). NSA hacking tools were leaked online. Here's what you need to know. Washington Post, 17 August 2016. 
• Pirker, Benedikt. (2013). T erritorial Sovereignty and Integrity and the Challenges of Cyberspace. In Katharina Ziolkowski (ed.). Peacetime Regime for State Activities in Cyberspace International Law, International Relations and Diplomacy (pp. 189-289). NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence.
• Popham, James F. (2018). Microdeviation: Observations on the Significance of Lesser Harms in Shaping the Nature of Cyberspace. Deviant Behavior Vol. 29(2), pp. 159-169.
• Priday, Richard. (2018). Fake news laws are threatening free speech on a global scale. Wired, 5 April 2018. 
• Reuters. (2018). Egypt targets social media with new law. 
• Prier, Jarred. (2017). Commanding the Trend Social Media as Information Warfare. Strategic Studies Quarterly, Vol. 11(4), 50-85.
• Rashid, Fahmida Y. (2015). Chinese Attackers Hacked Forbes Website in Watering Hole Attack: Security Firms. Security Week, 11 February 2015.
• Roozenbeek, Jon and Sander van der Linden. (2018). The Fake News Game: Actively Inoculating Against the Risk of Misinformation. Journal of Risk Research, published online 26 February 2018.
• Sauter, Molly. (2014). The Coming Sward: DDoS actions, Hacktivism, and Civil Disobedience on the Internet. Bloomsbury.
• Shulsky, Abram N. and Schmitt, Gary J. (2002). Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence, 3rd Edition. Potomac.
• Solomon, Rukundo. (2017). Electronic Protests: Hacktivism as a form of Protest in Uganda. Computer Law & Security Review, Vol. 33, 718-728.
• US Department of Homeland Security. (n.d.). Critical infrastructure sectors.  
• US Department of Homeland Security. (2017). Statement by Secretary Jeh Johnson on the Designation of Election Infrastructure as a Critical Infrastructure Subsector. 
• US Office of the Director of National Intelligence. (2017). Background to "Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections": The Analytic Process and Cyber Incident Attribution.  
• US White House. (2016). Statement by the President on Actions in Response to Russian Malicious Cyber Activity and Harassment. Office of the Press Secretary (29 December 2016). 
• van der Linden, Sander, Anthony Leiserowitz, Seth Rosenthal, and Edward Maibach. (2017). Inoculating the Public against Misinformation about Climate Change. Global Challenges, Vol. 2(1), 1-7.
• Warner, Michael. (2009). Intelligence as Risk Shifting. In Peter Gill, Stephen Marrin and Mark Phythian (eds.). Intelligence Theory: Key Questions and Debates. Routledge.
• Warner, Micheal. (2002). Wanted: A Definition of 'Intelligence'. Studies in Intelligence Vol. 46(3).
• Weimann, Gabriel. (2004). Cyberterrorism How Real Is the Threat? Special Report 119.
• Yousafzai, Gul. (2017). Pakistani journalist arrested under cyber crime law. Business Insider, 30 June 2017. 
• Zetter, Kim. (2011). Anonymous Hacks Security Firm Investigating It; Releases E-Mail. Wired, 2 February 2011. 
• Zetter, Kim. (2012). Flame and Stuxnet Cousin Targets Lebanese Bank Customers, Carries Mysterious Payload. Wired, 9 August 2012. 
• Zetter, Kim. (2016). Inside The Cunning, Unprecedented Hack of Ukraine's Power Grid. Wired, 3 March 2016. 
• Zhang, Jerry, Darrell Carpenter, and Myung Ko. (2013). Online astroturfing: A theoretical perspective. Proceedings of the Nineteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems 2013 (August), pp. 2559-2566.
• Ziolkowski, Katharina. (2013). Peacetime Cyber Espionage - New Tendencies in Public International Law. In Katharina Ziolkowski (ed.). Peacetime Regime for State Activities in Cyberspace International Law, International Relations and Diplomacy (pp. 425-464). NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence.

 

Cases

• Corfu Channel, ICJ GL No 1 [1949].
• Nicaragua v. United States, 1986 ICJ 14.

 

United Nations materials

• Charter of the United Nations 
• Conventions and protocols
  
  • (1963). Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft.
  • (1970). Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft.
  • (1971). Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation (Montreal Convention).
  • (1973). Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons.  
  • (1980). Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material.  
  • (1988). Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation.
  • (1988). Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf. 
  • (1988). Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence at Airports Serving International Civil Aviation, supplementary to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation.  
  • (1997). International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings.
  • (2005). International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism.  
  • (2005). Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Fixed Platforms located on the Continental Shelf .
  • (2005). Protocol to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation.  
  • (2010). Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Relating to International Civil Aviation (Beijing Convention).
  • (2010). Protocol Supplementary to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft.
  • (2014). Protocol to Amend the Convention on Offences and Certain Acts Committed on Board Aircraft.  
• Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly
  
  • (1970). Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations (A/RES/25/2625).
  • (1982). Manila Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes (A/RES/37/10).
  • (2018). Developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security (A/RES/73/27).
  • (2019). Advancing responsible State behaviour in cyberspace in the context of international security (A/RES/73/266).
• Resolutions adopted by the Security Council
  
  • (2001). Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts (S/RES/1373).
  • (2017). Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts (S/RES/2341).
• Reports to the General Assembly
  
  • (2008). The protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism (A/63/337).
  • (2015). Promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism (A/70/371).
  • (2016). Promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression (A/71/373).
  • (2016). Report on best practices and lessons learned on how protecting and promoting human rights contribute to preventing and countering violent extremism (A/HRC/33/29).
• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). (2005). Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material.
• International Law Commission. (2001). Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts.
• UN Economic and Social Council. (2005). Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Martin Scheinin.
• UN OHCHR. (2018). Mandates of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism (OL OTH 71/2018).
• UNODC. (2012). The Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes.
• UNSC CTED and UNOCT. (2018). The Protection Of Critical Infrastructures Against Terrorist Attacks: Compendium Of Good Practices. 

 

National and international legislation

• African Union. (2000). Constitutive Act.  
• Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). (1976). Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.  
• China. (1979, rev. 1997). Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China.  
• Germany. (1998, last amended 2009). German Criminal Code.  
• India. (2000). Information Technology Act.  
• Kenya. (2018). Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act.  
• Organization of American States. (1948). Charter of the Organization of American States.  
• Seventh International Conference of American States. (1933). Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States. 
• United States. (2015). Executive Order 13694: Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities. 
• United States. (2016). Executive Order 13757: Taking Additional Steps to Address the National Emergency With Respect to Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities.

 

Next: Exercises

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