On Feb. 10th, 2012, Guy-Philippe Goldstein wrote for Haaretz on the phenomenon of patriotic hackers.   Patriotic hackers are "cyber-vigilantes" that use cyberattacks against other countries without their government's permission or prompting.  The topic of patriotic hackers is especially relevant in light of the recent Israeli-Arab cyberwar (which was more of a DDOS tit-for-tat).  There, "Saudi hackers" attacked the public websites of Israeli entities, and an Israeli cyber-vigilante group called the "IDF Team" responded in kind.  In fact, the article mentioned that the FBI had to "warn American [patriotic] hackers against launching cyber-attacks against Iraq" in 2003.

The article argued that patriotic hackers are dangerous.  First, the patriotic hackers create problems for their home countries by diminishing their credibility.  Patriotic hackers "respond" to cyberattacks by foreign entities, but in reality, they can never fully attribute the source of a cyber-attack.  Thus, patriotic hackers often take revenge on the wrong people.  The victims of those misguided attacks impute them the host country, diminishing the host country's credibility. 

Second, the article noted that patriotic hackers don't follow the laws of armed conflict.  In the case of the Arab-Israeli exchange, both sides targeted the websites of stock exchanges.  The Arab hackers targeted the websites of Israeli hospitals and emergency services.  These attacks clearly violate the general LOAC principles of "avoid[ing] civilian targets unless they are linked to clear military objectives." 

Finally, patriotic hackers are susceptible to manipulation.  The article explained that Brazilian hackers faked cyberattacks on both Israeli and Palestinian targets in order to inflame a cyberwar.  The article concluded by questioning whether Iranian hackers could pose as Saudis, attack Israeli targets, and then "elicit Israeli counterattacks on Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states." 

You can find the Haaretz source article here.

On Feb. 10th, 2012, Guy-Philippe Goldstein wrote for Haaretz on the phenomenon of patriotic hackers.   Patriotic hackers are "cyber-vigilantes" that use cyberattacks against other countries without their government's permission or prompting.  The topic of patriotic hackers is especially relevant in light of the recent Israeli-Arab cyberwar (which was more of a DDOS tit-for-tat).  There, "Saudi hackers" attacked the public websites of Israeli entities, and an Israeli cyber-vigilante group called the "IDF Team" responded in kind.  In fact, the article mentioned that the FBI had to "warn American [patriotic] hackers against launching cyber-attacks against Iraq" in 2003.

The article argued that patriotic hackers are dangerous.  First, the patriotic hackers create problems for their home countries by diminishing their credibility.  Patriotic hackers "respond" to cyberattacks by foreign entities, but in reality, they can never fully attribute the source of a cyber-attack.  Thus, patriotic hackers often take revenge on the wrong people.  The victims of those misguided attacks impute them the host country, diminishing the host country's credibility. 

Second, the article noted that patriotic hackers don't follow the laws of armed conflict.  In the case of the Arab-Israeli exchange, both sides targeted the websites of stock exchanges.  The Arab hackers targeted the websites of Israeli hospitals and emergency services.  These attacks clearly violate the general LOAC principles of "avoid[ing] civilian targets unless they are linked to clear military objectives." 

Finally, patriotic hackers are susceptible to manipulation.  The article explained that Brazilian hackers faked cyberattacks on both Israeli and Palestinian targets in order to inflame a cyberwar.  The article concluded by questioning whether Iranian hackers could pose as Saudis, attack Israeli targets, and then "elicit Israeli counterattacks on Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states." 

You can find the Haaretz source article here.