Applying international humanitarian law to cyberattacks

• Author: Dan-Iulian Voita?ec
• Position: PhD candidate, Faculty of Law, ?Nicolae Titulescu' University of Bucharest (e-mail: dan.voitasec@gmail.com).
• Pages: 124-131

LESIJ NO. XXII, VOL. 1/2015

APPLYING INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW

TO CYBER-ATTACKS

Dan-Iulian VOITAȘEC*

Abstract

Technology plays an important role in everyday life. Technological advancement can be found

in every field of government including the military. Because of this, new means and methods o f

conducting hostilities have emerged. Cyber warfare starts to represent the latest challenge at an

international level. States and non-state actors have started to implement n ew security policies and

new defences against cyber-attacks but also have embraced using cyber-attacks as a method of

conducting hostilities. The question that has to be answered regarding the use of cyber-attacks is what

is the legal regime that governs such attacks and if IHL can apply to cyber warfare?

Keywords: jus ad bellum, jus in bello, cyber-attacks, cyber-warfare, Tallinn Manual.

1. Introduction *

Our world is changing at an increasing

rate and this change is caused, mostly, by the

rapid advancement of technology. This

accelerated technological evolution has led

to the development of new means and

methods of conducting hostilities. Cyber-

attacks represent the latest threat and states

and internat ional organizations have begun

to develop new defence strategies and new

methods to combat t hese threats. If states

and non-state actors resort to using cyber-

attacks what is the thres hold that these

attacks have to reach to trigger a response

under article 51 of the UN Charter from the

* PhD candidate, Faculty of Law, „Nicolae Titulescu” University of Bucharest (e-mail:

dan.voitasec@gmail.com).

Acknowledgment: This paper has been financially supported within the project entitled “Horizon 2020 -

Doctoral and Postdoctoral Studies: Promoting the National Interest through Excellence, Competitiveness and

Responsibility in the Field of Romanian Fundamental and Applied Scientific Research”, contract number

POSDRU/159/1.5/S/140106. This project is co-financed by European Social Fund through Sectoral Operational

Programme for Human Resources Development 2007-2013. Investing in people!

1

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) – “What is International Humanitarian Law?” accesed

February 20, 2015. https://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/other/what_is_ihl.pdf

victim state? Also, can a computer attack or

a series of computer network attacks trigger

the beginning of an armed conflict?

International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is a

set of rules which seek, for humanitarian

reasons, to limit the effects of armed

conflict. It protects persons who are not or

are no longer participating in the hostilities

and restricts the means and methods of

warfare

1

. IHL is a branch of international

law, and applies only to armed conflict. The

question that this article wants to answer is

does IHL apply to cyber-attacks? At this

moment there is legislation at a national

level, that deals with cybercrimes (cracking,

copyright infri ngement, chi ld pornography,

ID theft, fraud, etc.) but there is no

international treaty that mentions the