نشریه مطالعات حقوقی فضای مجازی
پیاپی 2 (تابستان 1401)

Looking at war from any angle, we will find it a terrible and violent phenomenon. At the same time, throughout the history, wars and armed conflicts have happened thousands of times and will happen in the future, and humanity cannot escape from it. But, they can be ruled by law and morality, so that wars, which in fact represent conflict of interests, do not turn into savagery and crime. As we witness in the third millennium, the nature and form of warfare is nowadays changing, and this falls under the rules of the international armed conflicts as such that is stipulated under The Tallinn Manual 1 & 2 by the NATO. The research method in this research is descriptive-analytical and the results of the research confirm that it is possible to apply humanitarian standards of international humanitarian law in cyber warfare because war is a phenomenon that affects all sections of a country and causes serious harms. It also affects the right to life and other aspects of human rights, because the first stage of cyber warfare is military and security classified information, and the next stage is the destruction, transfer, change and distortion of information and data related to the people and civilians of the enemy, and, noting that the civilians are not considered as combatants, they must not be the target of cyber-attacks and that the international humanitarian law, which is a common human value, must be applied in such cases.

One of the most important issues of the international community has been the use of force and the changes and evolutions it has underwent. The use of force is one of the important rules of international law, which is mentioned in paragraph 4 of the Article 2 of the UN Charter. With the comprehensive growth and development of societies, the concept of resorting to force has changed and new dimensions have been created and new methods have been used by governments. One of these methods is cyberattacks. A cyberattack is an example of a new weapon the ability of which to damage, kill and physically destroy in cyberspace, has changed the concept of the use of force. In this study, the aim is to investigate cybercrime and cyberspace to clarify the nature of cyberattacks and the relationship between these attacks and the use of force. This research has achieved its results using descriptive-analytical method. It has been found out that the development of the field of communication has led to the spread of new attacks which occur in cyberspace and, because of the unique features that these attacks have, governments are very much willing in using these attacks. Furthermore, when these attacks are carried out on a large scale and target the vital infrastructure of the country the use of force has taken place indeed and that it makes no difference whether these infrastructures are damaged or not. The mere cyber-attack on these infrastructures is the use of force and is in conflict with the Principle of Prohibition of the Use of Force contained under paragraph 4 of Article 2 of the UN Charter. Cyber-attacks can be considered as resorting to force according to this article.

The emergence of the Covid-19 has threatened physical and mental health and has negatively affected the economy of all countries in the world as well as the people’s daily life. All countries of the world have imposed restrictions such as travel, quarantine, school closures, social distancing measures. In the current situation, information and communication technologies and cyberspace play a significant role in establishing communication between the people. Most of the countries in the world use remote working systems and online mechanisms of education letting students and staff stay and work from their homes. There has also been a very high demand in activities such as telecommuting, electronic health care systems, food delivery and online shopping. The cyberspace criminals have taken the Covid-19 Pandemic as an opportunity to launch attacks against financial interests and promote their nefarious purposes.

During the outbreak of the Covid-19, ransomware, phishing attacks and botnets have targeted the banking systems, personal virtual space education, health care and resources such as the confidentiality of patient records which have endangered privacy and have compromised the confidentiality and integrity of data. People are falling prey to cyber-attacks through Covid-19 related content.

In this article, several important cyber security threat methods that existed or could occur during this pandemic have been examined. We have also discussed the concerns in the midst of this privacy-centered pandemic and finally examined some of the ways to deal with these threats. Abidance by the ways and methods revealed through this research will enable the people to keep safe in the cyber space to a noticeable degree.

Metaverse, as an emerging technology and the next generation of the internet which enjoys noticeable special and quite new features including its unlimited and simultaneous communication possibility in virtual reality, promises undeniable positive effects on the human lifestyle in the fields of medicine, economics, and education. It also brings with itself some negative outcomes including new types of crimes, impersonation and privacy breach risks. Therefore, management of lifestyle in such a new environment is necessary from technical and content point of view. In this regard, defining interactive protocols and standards and explaining the legal aspects of such a space and the contents produced therein as well as strengthening of governance in this areas seem to be among the most important challenges and tasks that the policymakers and legislators encounter. Considering such points, ensuring cyber security and privacy, identifying possible risks in the metaverse, strengthening governance with a balance of security and freedom in the metaverse, and informing and educating people through the media will be necessary for users in using the metaverse appropriately

Nowadays, virtual space has become the basis for the emergence of a new generation of computer games called "digitalNowadays, virtual space has become the basis for the emergence of a new generation of computer games called "digital games", which are very popular among the young generation owing to their being attractive and web-based. Purchase and selling of these games are accompanied with some ambiguities due to the mode of their execution and the nature of the characters inside the game in such a way that some have considered it illegitimate. Therefore, what is worthy of research is the examination and application of the Islamic rules on the financial income of the developers and providers of such digital games. For this purpose, the present article analyzes the financial incomes from digital games in the light of various perspectives such as game sales, streaming, being a tester and betting. The results of the present article, obtained by descriptive-analytical method, show that the purchase and sale of digital games, if free from obstacles and issues such as disbelief strengthening, sacrilege, and gambling usage, are permissible. Therefore, financial circulations resulting from the streaming as well as cooperation in their development and providing will also be allowed and that only the incomes from winnings and losings as well as pawning are illegal

Due to the many advantages of cyber attacks as a new method of warfare compared to the conventional and traditional methods of war, the attention of different countries has been drawn to this phenomenon over the recent years. Furthermore, noting the point that the efforts of some countries and international assemblies to systematize the tools, methods and effects of this style of attack and conflict still face a lack of consensus and, as a consequence, have not resulted in creation of an international document, the international lawyers have faced many challenges in dealing with this phenomenon and its destructive effects on the important and vital infrastructure of countries and defending the rights of nations against cyber attacks.There are now many legal rules governing the situations in which states can resort to force as well as the point as how they can resort to force in armed conflicts. Some of these rules do not apply specifically to cyber attacks including the rules related to the protection of the Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked. Other rules include general principles that apply to cyberattacks. Nevertheless, it seems that the gap between conventional weapons such as biological and chemical weapons and methods of cyber-attack can be very large. This article addresses the Principle of Prohibition of the Use of Force and the Principle of Distinction and examines the challenges of applying the same to the cyber attacks.