Security in cyberspace
Ahead of the Global Conference on CyberSpace 2015 in the Hague the Dutch foreign minister Bert Koenders and the head of the EU foreign service Federica Mogherini coauthored an article proposing a designation of specific elements of the cyber domain to be off limits for cyber-attacks.
The high-ranked politicians called on governments to take action against threats emanating from territory under their control. They suggested that specific elements of the cyber domain, like critical infrastructure providing essential civilian services, civilian incident response structures and certain critical components of the global Internet, should be beyond the reach of cyber-attacks, in the same way that hospitals cannot be attacked in times of war.
The political duo emphasized that the existing international law should also be clarified to contribute to security in cyberspace by drawing limits on the power of States to undermine the fundamental security of the vital cyber infrastructures.