The use of cyber operations during armed conflicts and the question of how international humanitarian law (IHL) applies to such operations have developed significantly over the past two decades. In their different roles in the Legal Division of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the authors of this article have followed these developments closely and have engaged in governmental and non-governmental expert discussions on the subject. In this article, we analyze pertinent humanitarian, legal and policy questions. We first show that the use of cyber operations during armed conflict has become a reality of armed conflicts and is likely to be more prominent in the future. This development raises a number of concerns in today's increasingly cyber-reliant societies, in which malicious cyber operations risk causing significant disruption and harm to humans. Secondly, we present a brief overview of multilateral discussions on the legal and normative framework regulating cyber operations during armed conflicts, looking in particular at various arguments around the applicability of IHL to cyber operations during armed conflict and the relationship between IHL and the UN Charter. We emphasize that in our view, there is no question that cyber operations during armed conflicts, or cyber warfare, are regulated by IHL – just as is any weapon, means or methods of warfare used by a belligerent in a conflict, whether new or old. Thirdly, we focus the main part of this article on how IHL applies to cyber operations. Analyzing the most recent legal positions of States and experts, we revisit some of the most salient debates of the past decade, such as which cyber operations amount to an “attack” as defined in IHL and whether civilian data enjoys similar protection to “civilian objects”. We also explore the IHL rules applicable to cyber operations other than attacks and the special protection regimes for certain actors and infrastructure, such as medical facilities and humanitarian organizations.

中文翻译：

---

二十年过去了：国际人道法和保护平民免受武装冲突期间网络行动的影响

在武装冲突期间使用网络行动以及国际人道法 (IHL) 如何适用于此类行动的问题在过去二十年中得到了显着发展。本文作者在红十字国际委员会 (ICRC) 法律部担任不同职务，密切关注这些事态发展，并就该主题参与了政府和非政府专家的讨论。在本文中，我们分析了相关的人道主义、法律和政策问题。我们首先表明，在武装冲突期间使用网络行动已成为武装冲突的现实，并且可能在未来更加突出。在当今日益依赖网络的社会中，这一发展引起了许多关注，其中恶意网络操作有可能对人类造成重大破坏和伤害。其次，我们简要概述了关于规范武装冲突期间的网络行动的法律和规范框架的多边讨论，特别是关注关于国际人道法对武装冲突期间的网络行动的适用性以及国际人道法与《联合国宪章》之间的关系的各种争论。我们强调，在我们看来，毫无疑问，武装冲突或网络战期间的网络行动受到国际人道法的监管——就像交战方在冲突中使用的任何武器、作战手段或方法一样，无论是新的还是旧的. 第三，我们将本文的主要部分重点放在国际人道法如何适用于网络行动。分析各国和专家的最新法律立场，我们重新审视过去十年中一些最突出的辩论，例如哪些网络行动构成国际人道法定义的“攻击”，以及民用数据是否享有与“民用物体”类似的保护。我们还探讨了适用于攻击以外的网络行动的国际人道法规则，以及针对某些行为者和基础设施（例如医疗设施和人道主义组织）的特殊保护制度。