Workshop 9 – Cybercrime as war crime?

Armed conflict may be accompanied by cyberattacks and cybercrime as experienced by Georgia in 2008 and by Ukraine since 2014, and these could be equally destructive and impactful as kinetic attacks. This raises the question of whether and under what conditions such cyberattacks and -crime could amount to war crime or other international crimes covered by domestic law or under the Rome Statute. In March 2025, the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court published a “draft policy on cyber-enabled crimes under the Rome Statute” which also helps frame this workshop. Against this background, the purpose of this session is to identify:

• examples of cyberattacks and cybercrime that may represent underlying crimes or that may aid the commission of war crimes (and other international crimes)
• the conditions and criteria to be met to prosecute cyberattacks and cybercrime as war crimes (and other international crimes)
• obstacles encountered and possible solutions to prosecute such crimes in domestic and international courts.

• Introduction and objective of the session
• Perspectives
  • Cyber-enabled crimes under the Rome Statute
  • Public international law: Status quo with focus on cybercrime standards
  • A look at the battlefield: perspective from Ukraine
• Discussion
• Conclusions by rapporteur