Internationally Wrongful Cyber Acts: Cyber Operations Breaching Norms of International Law

This chapter focuses on the core of Part II, and analyses the many circumstances in which a cyber operation may constitute an internationally wrongful act. The first observation made in this chapter, which is developed in the first section, is that there is no general prohibition of cyber operations in international law (5.1). Cyber operations between States are not per se prohibited by international law and generally constitute unfriendly or hostile acts. Despite the absence of a general prohibition of cyber operations, the carrying out of a cyber operation may lead to a violation of specific norms of international law. For instance, a cyber operation penetrating the computer systems of a foreign State may violate the sovereignty of the targeted State and also, in some circumstances, may constitute a breach of the principle of non-intervention. This chapter focuses on the primary norms of international law that can be breached by state-sponsored cyber operations, namely State sovereignty (5.3), non-intervention (5.4) and human rights (5.5). It would be difficult to catalogue all international law norms that could be breached by cyber operations. Hence, this chapter concentrates on the main norms that can be violated and, therefore, does not amount to a comprehensive analysis.