사이버테러 대응과 현행 절차법 검토

Effective Countermeasures to Cyberterrorism in Terms of Procedural Law

Nowadays cybercrime is increasingly threatening the information telecommunication infrastructure. In Korea, the so-called January 25 Internet incident made havoc of the whole Internet networks for nine hours on January 25, 2003. In the cyberspace, particularly after the 9?11 Terror, all the states have reinforced their efforts to ensure the security of the computer systems and networks from a variety of cyber attacks. Cyberterrorism is defined as cyber-attacks which, by means of computer viruses, hacking, denial of service, etc., cause or increase nationwide or social unrest and disorder. In most cases, the cyberspace insecurity might be caused by technological problems associated with the Internet. Therefore, it is most important and effective to examine and apply technical countermeasures against such cyber-threats in the first place. And there seems to be a room for the government to intervene to solve those problems. Such characteristics of the Internet as borderlessness, openness, no time limits and rapid technological progress aggravate the difficulties in preventing cyber-attacks. Therefore, in order to tackle the problems, it is necessary to establish laws to enhance relevant technological countermeasures in the area of both substantive and procedural laws. The procedural law is required to provide an appropriate way to keep up with technological aspects of the crime. Examining the existing Korean laws with respect to the cyberterrorism, we can find there are some overlaps of substantive laws, and confused array of procedural laws in comparison with those of other advanced countries including the United States. In order to get proper solutions, it is necessary to deliberately examine the legal systems of other countries and to study the global standards. In particular, the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime will make a good example of the procedural law concerning cybercrime. The United States has installed the practical methods for the collection of evidences so as to confront various criminal activities in the cyberspace ever since the Electronic Communication Privacy Act , as amended from time to time. This article examines the problem of the existing regulations in Korea, and makes suggestions of effective countermeasures in the area of procedural law to prevent cyberterrorism. But it also calls for striking the balance between the effective implementation for the security of cyberspace and the civil liberty, another backbone of our democratic society.