Cyberwarfare and international law

What is cyberwarfare as a threat to international security?
Cyber warfare is usually defined as a cyber attack or series of attacks that target a country.
It has the potential to wreak havoc on government and civilian infrastructure and disrupt critical systems, resulting in damage to the state and even loss of life..
Cyber warfare involves the actions by a nation-state or international organization to attack and attempt to damage another nation's computers or information networks through, for example, computer viruses or denial-of-service attacks.
Cyber warfare is usually defined as a cyber attack or series of attacks that target a country.
It has the potential to wreak havoc on government and civilian infrastructure and disrupt critical systems, resulting in damage to the state and even loss of life.
For the ICRC, there is no question that IHL imposes limits on cyber operations during armed conflicts – just as on any weapon, means and method of warfare used by a belligerent in a conflict, whether new or old.

Cyber operations below the threshold of “force”, even if otherwise prohibited under the customary principle of non-intervention, on the other hand, may represent lawful counter-measures in response to internationally wrongful acts not reaching the threshold of “armed attack” by another state.

In doing so, the focus will be on the rules and principles of IHL governing the conduct of hostilities rather than those governing the protection and treatment

Can international law apply to state-sponsored cyber intrusions?

195 Some scholarly initiatives also provide case studies of state-sponsored cyber intrusions into another state, to which international law can be applied:

Efrony and Shany (2018)
‘A Rule Book on the Shelf?’; NATO cyber toolkit
NATO CCDCOE (n

d.), ‘Cyber Law Toolkit’.

Does international humanitarian law apply to cyber operations during armed conflicts?

Keywords:

cyber operations
armed conflict
cyber warfare
human cost
international humanitarian law

The use of cyber operations during armed conflicts and the question of how international humanitarian law (IHL) applies to such operations have developed significantly over the past two decades.

Use of digital attacks against a nation

Cyberwarfare is the use of cyber attacks against an enemy state, causing comparable harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting vital computer systems.
Some intended outcomes could be espionage, sabotage, propaganda, manipulation or economic warfare.

Informatic component of the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine

Cyberwarfare is a component of the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine since the Revolution of Dignity in 2013-2014.
While the first attacks on information systems of private enterprises and state institutions of Ukraine were recorded during mass protests in 2013, Russian cyberweapon Uroburos had been around since 2005.
Russian cyberwarfare continued with the 2015 Ukraine power grid hack at Christmas 2015 and again in 2016, paralysis of the State Treasury of Ukraine in December 2016, a Mass hacker supply-chain attack in June 2017 and attacks on Ukrainian government websites in January 2022.

Cyberwarfare and international law

What is cyberwarfare as a threat to international security?

Can international law apply to state-sponsored cyber intrusions?

Does international humanitarian law apply to cyber operations during armed conflicts?

Cyberwarfare is a component of the confrontation between Russia and