International humanitarian law and the emergence of cyberwar

Abstract

In International Humanitarian Law and the Emergence of Cyberwar, the author analyzes the challenges posed by cyberattack and cyberconfl icts to the International Humanitarian Law that currently exists. Th us, the main purpose of the paper is to present a state of the art in the fi eld of international legal regulation of cyberwar. Th e aim is also to address the conceptualization of cyberwar from a strategic and security perspective, then to examine at what extent the regulation of IHL should be applied. Th e article contains a brief review of the literature, especially of the American approach to the subject, where we can fi nd the legal analysis more advanced. Th e conclusion is that despite being clear that we are not facing a legal vacuum the application of the IHL is not without diffi culties. Perhaps the most notorious is the attribution of responsibility in a cyberattack.