To investigate and prosecute the 2007 cyber attacks against its governmental and critical private information infrastructure, Estonia requested legal cooperation from the Russian Public Prosecutor’s Office. This paper looks into the anatomy of this request and the Russian refusal to cooperate and suggests that in situations like the Estonian events in 2007, the lack of a legal mechanism or political willingness to cooperate equally result in the inability of the victim state to prosecute the cyber incidents. The paper also concludes that situations where a nation is depending on another sovereign’s mercy may, in combination with the persistent trend of politically motivated cyber attacks, lead to a sense of fearlessness among patriotic hackers.
Published in: 9th European Conference on Information Warfare and Security, Thessaloniki, Greece, 01-02 July.
Tikk, E. & Kaska, K. (2010). Legal Cooperation to Investigate Cyber Incidents: Estonian Case Study and Lessons. 9th European Conference on Information Warfare and Security, Thessaloniki, Greece, 01-02 July. Reading: Academic Publishing Limited, pp 288-294.