The Challenges of Cyber Warfare to the Laws of Armed Conflicts: Humanitarian Impact and Regulation Attempts (original) (raw)
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Cyber Warfare: Taking War to Cyberspace and its Implications for International Humanitarian Law
International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research, 2023
The issues of cyber-warfare and cyber-attacks have become problematic issues. These are very efficient and economical methods to attack any nation compared to conventional weapons. A country does not need fully trained army to wage a war these days. A country with the help of few computer engineers or hackers can attack other country and launch attacks. Such attacks could be devastating. Existing laws, such as IHL are not well equipped to handle the issue of cyber warfare. The cyber-attacks are already happening and there is every possibility that the number of cyber-attacks will increase in the near future. Computers and technology will only improve as time progresses, which is why the legal grey area of cyber warfare should be clarified in order to help nations understand and comply with international rules that will limit the potential harm that cyber weapons can have. Existing international conventions provide minimum regulatory framework to this phenomenon. It has therefore; be...
This article deals with the notion of “cyber warfare” within the context of international humanitarian law. As a first step, the terms of “cyber warfare” and “cyber attack” are clarified. Subsequently, an effort is made to look into whether and, if so, under what kind of circumstances, a cyber operation can trigger or amount to an armed conflict, by employing the traditional distinction between an international armed conflict and a non-international armed conflict. However, two more criteria are suggested – a consequential approach and the affinity of cyber operations with military operations, according to which international humanitarian law would regulate a cyber operation occurring within the context of an existing armed conflict. Lastly, an analysis of cyber incidents – including “Stuxnet” – is provided, which contributes to the identification of the most important challenge international humanitarian law faces with regard to cyber warfare: attribution of conduct.
Emergent International Humanitarian Law in the Context of Cyber Warfare
Over the last decade, actors throughout the international community have begun to engage in information operations (IO)—the use of information technology such as computer network attacks to influence, disrupt, corrupt, usurp, or defend information systems and the infrastructure they support. Current international humanitarian law fails to address the challenges that arise from technological advancements, often lacking consideration of the many non-state actors actively involved Additionally, and arguably most importantly, it is unclear whether cyber-attacks constitute the use of force put forth in the UN Charter. Examining recent changes in technology, the increased presence of non-state actors, a decade's worth of cyber-attacks, and recent developments in domestic and international law, it becomes clear that the existing legal framework is inadequate and necessitates further consensus building and negotiation across the international community.
INTERNATIONAL LAW AND THE CYBER WARFARE
The toolkit of statecraft has many an item in it; war and its related concepts are but one tool in it. Over the centuries, the international law related to war has been divided into two distinct spheres: jus ad bellum (law of war) and jus in bello (law in war). The law of war deals with the justifications or reasons leading to war, whereas, the law in war deals with the conduct of the war. The practice of the two spheres is not as neat as the distinction. To this confusion of the practice, must we add, the emerging concept of the fifth-dimension warfare. The fifth-dimension warfare has many related concepts like information warfare, irregular warfare, cyber warfare, grey war etc. 'Fifth-dimension warfare' is preferred by the US military. It sounds more convincing for the following reasons:
terAs Law Review : Jurnal Hukum Humaniter dan HAM
States and non-State armed groups are increasingly employing cyber capabilities in their military operations in the digitalization environment today. There is a controversy about how current international legal frameworks, especially International Humanitarian Law (IHL), applies to such conduct in cyberspace, most notably in the context of armed conflict. Because one of the fundamental aims of the IHL is to protect civilians from the impact of armed conflict, it is critical to explore the norms of IHL that regulate such operations. This article will be likely to discuss about cyber warfare in the term of armed conflict. Lastly, the article will be reviewing the rules and principle that applies during the cyber warfare.
In Brief: The Law of War, Cyberspace, and International Security
The law of war is part of who we are, it is part of our military heritage. Warfare may have changed shape, methods, and technologies – but the concept of one group of people battling another group of people defensively, due to religious conflict, balance of power, economy, or otherwise, remains constant to this day. The primary issues surrounding the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) international security can be separated into three main concerns. First, establishment of internationally agreed-upon legal definitions of the terms surrounding cyberspace and, cyberspace, and international security must be created. Second, to be addressed in a later paper, escalation scales must be produced by which each of those infractions can be judged and options for defensive retaliatory measures can be considered. Third, also to be addressed by a later paper, the methods by which assessment, attribution, and accountability are to be conducted11 must be applied to suit each of the legal definitions. Based upon category and placement on the new escalation scale, LOAC can be applied to new rules of engagement. The goal is to identify a cyber event, then properly categorize it based on internationally agreed upon parameters, assess the severity against an escalation scale in order to determine a proper response, attribute the incident to a state or non-state actor, find the parties who perpetrated the incident, and strive to achieve justice.
International Law and Cyber-Warfare
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2013
Today in the 21 st century the internet is the life and blood of the modern economy. Whatever the field is, it is fully dependent on cyberspace. In powerful countries like U.S.A, Russia, Germany, China the control of these cyber units if fully with the military agencies only. Many researchers in this field believes that, due the high dependence of Military services on internet the fifth dimension for global war is now opened, which is more dynamic and powerful. Banking, industry, infrastructure, and education all the modern facilities provided by the state to its citizen are to full extent dependent on cyberspace for better results.