Cyber Warfare and the Laws of War

An analysis of the status of computer network attacks in international law.

Heather Harrison Dinniss (Author)

9781107011083, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 July 2012

360 pages
23.4 x 15.7 x 2.1 cm, 0.68 kg

The information revolution has transformed both modern societies and the way in which they conduct warfare. Cyber Warfare and the Laws of War analyses the status of computer network attacks in international law and examines their treatment under the laws of armed conflict. The first part of the book deals with the resort to force by states and discusses the threshold issues of force and armed attack by examining the permitted responses against such attacks. The second part offers a comprehensive analysis of the applicability of international humanitarian law to computer network attacks. By examining the legal framework regulating these attacks, Heather Harrison Dinniss addresses the issues associated with this method of attack in terms of the current law and explores the underlying debates which are shaping the modern laws applicable in armed conflict.

1. The world in which we live and fight
2. Computer network attacks as a use of force in international law
3. Armed attack and response in the digital age
4. The applicability of the laws of armed conflict to computer network attacks
5. Participants in conflict: combatant status, direct participation and computer network attack
6. Targeting and precautions in attack
7. Measures of special protection
8. Means and methods of warfare.

Subject Areas: International humanitarian law [LBBS], Public international law [LBB], Law [L], Armed conflict [JPWS]