International Law Issues On Cyber-attacks

With the continuous development of information technology, societycontinuously increases their dependent on the information structure. Cyber-attacks isbecoming one of the rising threaten to the national security. Several cyber-securityincidents in recent years show the world that cyber-attacks as a new means andmethods of warfare are of great potential. Development of cyber-attacks had a severeimpact on a number of areas of international law. Based on the extensive researchbased on international law since the1990s, academic research for cyber-attacks on theform and characteristics are summarized and discussed how the existing rules ofinternational law apply in the these attacks. This paper includes the following:The first chapter describes the background combined with the emergence anddevelopment of the cyberspace and illustrates the existing technical concepts andtheoretical concepts of cyber-attacks which summarize the features of cyber-attack.Cyber-attacks should be defined as an attack on national critical cyber infrastructureto interference, destruction or deprivation through cyber weapons. In addition, thepaper distinguishes between cybercrime, cyber-attacks and cyber warfare and whichthe paper discussed is the attack between the nations.The second chapter discusses how existing laws of war or armed conflict rulesapply to cyber-attacks. This chapter summarizes the general principles ofcyber-attacks when it violates “the principle of prohibition of the use of force”, andwhen the cyber-attacks can be regarded as “armed conflict” and in cyber armed conflicts each participant’s legal status and the how the law of armed conflict apply toconditional cyber-attacks;The third chapter mainly discussed how the other international legal regimeregulates those cyber-attacks under the “use of force” or “armed conflict”. Thischapter summarizes the issue of how State Responsibility Law apply in cyber-attacksand concludes that State responsibility can conditionally apply to cyber-attacks; andthen explores the existing international organizations’ measures on cyber-attacks anddescribes two different views on cyber-attacks in different legislative approach.The forth chapter discusses the legislative outlook on the application ofcyber-attacks in international law, which based on the analysis of whether theinternational law is applicable to the current limitations of cyber-attacks. Theinternational practice and recent analyzes by combining bilateral or multilateral showsthe possibility of international cooperation agreements in cyberspace, establishing aregional cooperation organizations, and promoting the UN General AssemblyResolutions on cyber issues.