Rewriting the Rules

Hackers Are Fair Game in Cyberwar

According to new NATO-sponsored manual.

It's all fun and games until some nerd gets hurt. A new handbook on cyberwarfare says it's OK to kill hackers who perpetrate attacks causing death or serious property damage. The set of rules, written by 20 legal experts at the behest of NATO, is the first attempt to determine how international law should apply to state-sponsored cyberattacks. "Everyone talks about cyberspace as though it's the Wild West," the project's leader told The Guardian. "We discovered that there's plenty of law that applies to cyberspace." For example, just like in conventional warfare, civilian targets such as hospitals and nuclear power plants must be avoided at all costs.