Title: United Nations Digital Blue Helmets as a Starting Point for Cyber Peacekeeping,
Abstract: Prior works, such as the Tallinn manual on the international law applicable
to cyber warfare, focus on the circumstances of cyber warfare. Many
organizations are considering how to conduct cyber warfare, but few have
discussed methods to reduce, or even prevent, cyber conflict. A recent series
of publications started developing the framework of Cyber Peacekeeping (CPK)
and its legal requirements. These works assessed the current state of
organizations such as ITU IMPACT, NATO CCDCOE and Shanghai Cooperation
Organization, and found that they did not satisfy requirements to effectively
host CPK activities. An assessment of organizations currently working in the
areas related to CPK found that the United Nations (UN) has mandates and
organizational structures that appear to somewhat overlap the needs of CPK.
However, the UN's current approach to Peacekeeping cannot be directly mapped to
cyberspace. In this research we analyze the development of traditional
Peacekeeping in the United Nations, and current initiatives in cyberspace.
Specifically, we will compare the proposed CPK framework with the recent
initiative of the United Nations named the 'Digital Blue Helmets' as well as
with other projects in the UN which helps to predict and mitigate conflicts.
Our goal is to find practical recommendations for the implementation of the CPK
framework in the United Nations, and to examine how responsibilities defined in
the CPK framework overlap with those of the 'Digital Blue Helmets' and the
Global Pulse program.