Cyber Warfare – An Outlook of its Legal Regime

Author: Vignesh Ram Hariharan, Student, Australian National University, Australia

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Abstract

“We live in a world where all wars will begin as cyberwars... It's the combination of hacking and massive, well-coordinated disinformation campaigns.”

The advent of cyberspace has been a boon in terms of converting interaction between states from being largely insular and bipolar to a more globalized and interconnected relationship. However, the deep-rooted fear of states weaponizing cyberspace came into fruition after the Titan Rain and the Russian cyber-attack on Estonia. This weaponization of the cyberspace has led to significant legal challenges in the international law framework.

The argument raised in this essay is that cyber operations amount to use of force under Article 2(4) of the UN Charter and an armed attack under Article 51 of the UN Charter.

The framework for this essay shall constitute the following titles and its relationship with cyber operations:

a. Use of Force under Article 2(4)

b. Armed Attack under Article 51

c. Historical Case Study

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