Abstract
Theories considering certain cyber-attacks as acts of aggression seem to be only aimed at gearing international public opinion to accept the idea of a lawful recourse to armed force in reaction to some cyber-attacks. Nevertheless, these theories do not seem to have an effective legal basis in international law considering that an act of aggression always entails the use of kinetic armed force. On the contrary it seems easier to reconnect some uses of ICT to the hypothesis of a threat of international peace and security because there are no obstacles in supporting that United Nations Security Council (UNSC) could establish - under article 39 of UN Charter - that a specific use of cyber force constitutes a threat to international peace and consequently react resorting to measures set forth in articles 40 to 42 of UN Charter. Indeed, the practice has illustrated, over the course of years, that the notion of threat to peace has exceeded situations characterised by serious violations of human rights expanding practically to “any violation of an essential obligation for the safeguarding of the fundamental interests of the International Community”: an expansion which could also extend to cyber operations especially when aimed against critical national infrastructure and cause serious damage to persons and property. Once this point is well resolved, it remains to evaluate to which kind of reaction the UNSC could resort to: from the cease-fire to smart sanctions against non-state actors (e.g. in the case of private hackers) until the use of armed force.
Panel: Collective Security and Strategic (In)Stability in Cyberspace
Cite this presentation
@inproceedings{eiss-2018-cyber-attacks-as-a-threat-to-international-peace-and-security-the-action-of-the,
author = {Annachiara Rotundo},
title = {Cyber Attacks as a Threat to International Peace and Security: The Action of the UN Security Council},
booktitle = {European Security Studies Conference 2018},
year = {2018},
url = {https://eiss-europa.com/papers/2018-cyber-attacks-as-a-threat-to-international-peace-and-security-the-action-of-the.html}
}