The war between Russia and Ukraine is being fought on several fronts and the president of the Microsoft Brad Smith, who indulged in a long rant on the company’s blog.
Here are his statements:
We remain particularly concerned about the recent cyber attacks received by Ukrainian civilians, including the financial sector, the agricultural sector, emergency response services, humanitarian aid and energy sector organizations and businesses. These attacks on civilian targets raise serious concerns under the Geneva Convention and we have shared information with the Ukrainian government on each of them.
As the Geneva Convention aims to protect civilians, these attacks are going very close to if they are not even exceeding it, at least according to Danny Lopez, CEO of the cybersecurity agency. Glasswall, also in this case here are his statements:
By targeting innocent bystanders, especially emergency response and humanitarian aid organizations, which are unprepared to defend their cybersecurity infrastructure from a global power, the attackers may have gone a step too far.
For those who are not aware, the four Geneva Conventions are international treaties that define the rules of war and try to limit barbaric behavior in the event of these unpleasant episodes. The fourth Geneva Convention focuses on the treatment of civilians precisely in this particular situation.
Although the term “war crimes” does not appear in the convention itself, it does appear in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, article 8, which he defines “war crimes” as “grave violations of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949.” The article also lists a number of acts that would constitute a violation of the Geneva Conventions, including “willfully cause great suffering or serious injury to the body or health.” Other violations include “intentionally directing attacks on the civilian population”, according to article 8 of the statute.
As for the cyber attacks in Ukraine, Smith did not specify which incidents he was referring to in the blog when he mentioned the cyber attacks. Previously, however, he revealed that Microsoft had “detected a new round of offensive and destructive cyber attacks targeting Ukraine’s digital infrastructure” on Wednesday 24 February.
The news related to the intervention of Microsoft linked to the events between Russia and Ukraine for now it is limited to this, but we know that recently Elon Musk and YouTube have taken action, as well as recently also some film productions.
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