A Cyber Chase in Cyber Space: How International Law Must Address the Threat of Cyber Attacks or Suffer the Consequences

Abstract

This paper will explore why the Internet and cyberspace are so different from traditional notions of real property, and what challenges that difference presents to players on the international stage, and will rectify whether cyberspace is a new landscape deserving of its own unique law, or whether existing law is equipped to deal with the challenges of cyberspace as written. Next is a thorough exploration of what a cyber attack might be, could be, should be, and should not be, along with a discussion of why cyber attacks are not only a matter of international importance but why, in some respects, only the international community might be equipped to foster dialogue about how to deal with cyber attacks. There is also a call to action for the United Nations, with the perhaps premature admonishment that the United Nations is in the habit of addressing new and different challenges to international law. The third and final part of this section will explore the current state of international law regarding cyber attacks, analyzing what the existing law is, how it might be retrofitted to deal with cyber attacks, and other possible ways the international theater might attempt to regulate nefarious conduct within cyberspace.The next section proposes a workable definition of a cyber attack for the international community that is also mindful of the numerous concerns voiced by various scholars in the area. Then the definition and the framework it provides is put to the test by applying it to two possible instances of cyber attacks: Stuxnet, and Operation Shady RAT.