The Prohibition of Cyberterrorism as a Method of Warfare in International Law: The Need for a New IHL Treaty

摘要

There is no doubt that cyber operations can play a significant role in the conduct of warfare. This article focuses on a specific aspect of cyber operations that is growing in significance: cyberterrorism as a method of warfare. It begins by exploring the definitional issues surrounding cyberterrorism. It then examines the extent to which international humanitarian law (IHL), which was primarily designed to govern kinetic means and methods of warfare, applies to cyberterrorism, and concludes that there is a need for new treaty law to explicitly prohibit such acts and to hold the perpetrators responsible.