International Community May Soon Outlaw Cyber-Attacks

In a move that's certainly set to have some long-lasting consequences on the world's stage, as security experts at Kaspersy Lab speak with the United Nations on how acts of digital espionage – hacking, that is – should be outlawed. Though it's true that hacking is not an act that's technically legal in most places around the world – noone wants to have their computer busted into – it's not yet been agreed upon between the world's nations whether or not they should agree to outlaw digital attacks the way they did chemical warfare. It's more of a gentlemen's agreement not to be a jerk than it is a hard and fast set of rules.

Back in World War I (and well before), there was one whole heck of a lot of gas being spread around between fighting nations. Because of the absolute horror that resulted in The Great War – and the many times before and after that most visible event – the Chemical Weapons Convention now exists. This arms control agreement outlaws chemical weapons and is administered by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, Netherlands.

As a result of the latest "cyber snooping" assault called Gauss in the Middle East, Vitaly Kalmuk, chief malware officer at Kaspersy Lab, is heading up an initiative to urge the UN to make such attacks a thing of the past.

"We still think there is a lack of attention and lack of response in the area of nation-state supported development of malware. We think it should become a global problem and it should be discussed on an international level, probably in the United Nations, and there should be treaties. But that is not happening now. There is not enough changes." – Kalmuk

Details surrounding what kind of treaties Kalmut speaks about are not yet available, but once talks are initiated, we're expecting a whole lot to be done in a short time.

What do you think, readers? Do you feel that the United Nations should agree upon a mutual disarming of sorts for digital warfare? There's also the risk of third party groups getting involved when they feel the UN's collected countries guards are down – or is that a matter of protection quite separate from having the ability to attack? Let us know what you think of Kaspersy Lab's initiative today!

[via Guardian]