The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has proposed a digital emblem to mark its digital infrastructure and protect it from cyber-attacks, such as ransomware, in times of war.
The proposal (opens in a new tab) was unveiled as part of a new investigative report from the humanitarian organization on its digitization as attacks like ransomware become more common in modern conflicts.
In a report titled "Digitization of the Red Cross, Red Crescent and Red Crystal emblems (opens in a new tab)", the IRC states that, in the same way that the red cross symbol marks humanitarian volunteers who must protect themselves on the physical battlefield, a numerical emblem would identify the protected facilities.
The digital fog of war
The committee also claims that 'cyber operators' have suggested that a digital emblem would help break the 'digital fog of war'.
To this end, the ICRC has identified several ways to implement a digital emblem. A DNS-based emblem would link you to a human-readable domain name, while an IP-based emblem would use part of an IP address to identify protected infrastructure as well as messages sent over a network.
He also suggested that an "ADEM" (Authenticated Digital Emblem) system could use certificates that are authenticated by actors and can communicate "through different Internet protocols."
And while the Red Cross digital emblem is just a proposal at the moment, the ICRC says it is working with the Center for Cyber Trust (opens in a new tab), Johns Hopkins University and ITMO St Petersburg University to explore these implementations.
The ICRC also wants IT experts to develop concrete ways to protect medical and humanitarian services from digital damage during armed conflict. He says that, along with the Australian Red Cross, he has consulted with cybersecurity companies, government officials, humanitarian experts and others to get their perspective.
“With the digitization of society, cyber operations have become a reality of armed conflict,” said Robert Mardini, ICRC director general.
“Our mandate to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict requires that we understand how these operations can cause harm. The “digital emblem” is a concrete step to protect critical medical infrastructure and the ICRC in the digital realm. »