“Cross-Border Cyber Attacks Under International Law”رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

Global expansion of the internet has become faster and more expanded .This has led to create a powerful technological revolution which emerges to rise even more over the years. Today, the internet has gathered every actor in the world together from states , individuals ,organizations ,non-state communities ,academia and business. Nowadays ,we see states rely their military power on advanced computer systems and networks which has opened to a new power .Thus ,now we see states trying to use different types of warfighting such as cyber attacks instead of land ,sea or air .However ,looking at the nature of means and methods of warfare ,we tend to raise the question of the legitimacy of cyber attacks under international law . However ,applying the rules of IL to technology and cyber attacks can entail a certain difficulty since the characteristics of a cyber attack is not the same as the type of warfare under land ,sea or air .This thesis provides an overview of the most controversial topics in international law and analyses the types of cyber attacks and their legitimacy under International Law (IL) and International humanitarian law.which was divide into three main chapters, an introduction that gives and overview on the main problem, a second chapter that provides a legal framework and a third chapter that focuses on international law topics regarding cyber attacks. Our main objective was to provide a general understanding of cyber attacks and its type as well as the application of IL regarding this matter . Our results had showed that cyber attacks are unlawful under IL and they violate sovereignty and nonintervention as well as almost every single topic in IL such as principle of proportionality and others as well. From a safety perspective, this study emphasizes the need to take into account the impact of these cyber attacks to the safety of a state.