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Cyber attacks in peace, crisis and war

Marika Ericson, Associate Head of Public Law at the Swedish Defence University, is conducting a research project on legal perspectives on emergency preparedness and total defense. The project explores the difference in regulations between peacetime emergency preparedness and total defense and how cyber attacks can be managed within the framework of these different legal systems.

Ericson says that cybercrime is increasing in Sweden and that the authorities have found it difficult to effectively investigate and prevent online crime. At the same time, the legislation that gives the Swedish Armed Forces the right to protect the territory in peacetime, the IFKFN regulation, is not written to deal with cyber attacks from other states.

With support from the Torsten Söderberg Foundation, the project will investigate which cyber-attacks directed against Sweden from another state can be defined as armed attacks and acts of war, how cyber-attacks that do not constitute an armed attack but constitute acts that violate international law are handled, and how Swedish legislation should be developed to better respond to cyber-attacks that are between peace and war.

The project will contribute to deepening the research field with an analysis of Swedish law, including new state practice and legislation that affects Swedish regulation of cyber security and cyber defense in the future.