Research On The Application Of International Humanitarian Law To Cyber Warfare

Cyber operations undertaken which is manipulated or controlled by one state targeting other states should be regarded as use of force in international law,if its effects amount to the effects of the use of force,and it poses a threat to international peace and security.To identify the use of force of cyber operations is mainly by its effects and scale.The scale is mainly determined by the range and degree of the damage caused by cyber operations,and the effects are judged mainly by the consequences of cyber operations.The state which is suffered from cyber operations may exercise its inherent rights of self-defence pursuant to Article 51 of UN Charter.One state may exercise the right of anticipatory self-defence,when it is in the situation of emergency,it may exercise anticipatory self-defence because of the trait of immediacy in cyber operations,but its anticipatory self-defense must be observe the principle of necessity and proportionality.Necessity requires that anticipatory self-defence is the sole means to successfully defeat enemy operations.Proportionality requires that anticipatory self-defense can be used to prevent cyber operations at a lesser cost.Cyber operations,as new types of warfare,have high value in military area,and it can be often used by states in the future wars.International humanitarian law is the law of regulating war,whose general principles should be observed,such as the principle of distinction and proportionality and so on.The principle of distinction requires to distinct the civilians and soldiers,and distinct military objects and civil objects;the principle of proportionality requires that when the belligerents attack military objects,should decrease the damages of civil objects as far as possible;In order to prevent belligerent nations violate international humanitarian law,international society should build a security institution to sentence and sanction the states which do not abide by the international humanitarian law,let the states assume states' liability and individual assume criminal liability.Tallinn Manual as one none binding force book which aims at letting the existing international law be suitable for cyber operations,is no mandatory force,but it provides a reference for regulating cyber operations.