Generolo Jono Žemaičio Lietuvos karo akademija

The methodological foundations of the formation of analytical support for public administration of cybersecurity have been improved. Based on a combination of hierarchical and non-hierarchical clustering methods using the IBM SPSS Statistics package, the country’s regions have been grouped into four clusters, which is the basis for adjusting the priorities of the state cybersecurity policy, a well-grounded approach when choosing means and instruments of influence at the regional level. In modern doctrine and practice of international law, the issues of qualification of cyber warfare remain controversial. There are approaches to justify the application of international humanitarian and criminal law. The most justified, in our opinion, is the qualification of cyber warfare as a violation of the UNO Charter and the use of force, and in some cases – the crime of aggression. The substantive rules of the institution of international cooperation in the fight against cybercrime determine the special principles of this kind of cooperation, the criminalization of certain types of illegal acts, as well as institutional mechanisms and capacity building. The system of international combating cybercrime is based on the principles of technical neutrality, multi-stakeholderism (public-private partnerships), as well as the equivalence of human rights online and offline. In the future, cybercrime will be associated with the use of innovative technologies. As it has been established by the example of the Internet of things, the latest technology, as a general rule, is included in the scope of existing international agreements on cybercrime, but there is no special regulation for them. We propose formal consolidation of the provision on “emergent technologies” in the texts of international legal acts in the field of combating cybercrime. First of all, this concerns the future UNO Convention on the fight against cybercrime, which should also provide for an additional body, such as the T-CY Committee under the Council of Europe Convention, which will provide clarification on the application of the agreement in specific changed circumstances.

The research paper discusses different issues of interpretation and qualification of illegal access to an information system (IS), taking into account international instruments and European Union legislation as well as the relevant case law of Lithuania. Analysis of criminal cases and legal regulation shows that such cases require an appropriate combination of the technical and legal sides of such criminal offences. In this context, it is also important that criminal liability for illegal access to an IS must be underpinned not only by the principles of technological neutrality and equivalent assessment but also must ensure respect for the ultima ratio (last resort) principle. It is this principle which in particular is the subject of considerable attention in the research paper in terms of over-criminalisation of illegal access to an IS. While solving the puzzle of technology and terminology alignment, the paper also explores the elements of illegal access to an IS. In the light of developments in Lithuanian case law, more emphasis is placed on the debatable infringement of security measures, as an element, and on possible interpretation of its content.