Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
4-2015
Abstract
Cyberweapons and cyberwarfare are one of the most dangerous innovations of recent years, and a significant threat to national security. Cyberweapons can imperil economic, political, and military systems by a single act, or by multifaceted orders of effect, with wide-ranging potential consequences. Cyberwarfare occupies an ambiguous status in the conventions of the laws of war. This book addresses Ethical and legal issues surrounding cyberwarfare by considering whether the Laws of Armed Conflict apply to cyberspace and the ethical position of cyberwarfare against the background of our generally recognized moral traditions in armed conflict. The book explores these moral and legal issues and examines the key principles of jus in bello to determine how they might be applied to cyber conflicts. The distinction between civilian and combatant in this context and the level of causation necessary to elicit a response are studied and the specific operational realities implicated by particular regulatory regimes are analyzed.
Keywords
cyberweapons, cyberwarfare, national security, cyber attack, causation, proximate cause, regulatory regimes, laws of war
Publication Title
Cyber War: Law and Ethics for Virtual Conflicts
Repository Citation
Finkelstein, Claire Oakes and Govern, Kevin H., "Introduction: Cyber and the Changing Face of War" (2015). All Faculty Scholarship. 1566.
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_scholarship/1566
Included in
Computer Law Commons, International Law Commons, International Relations Commons, Internet Law Commons, Military, War, and Peace Commons, National Security Law Commons, Science and Technology Law Commons, Science and Technology Studies Commons
Publication Citation
in Cyber War: Law and Ethics for Virtual Conflicts (Jens David Ohlin, Kevin Govern and Claire Finkelstein eds., Oxford, 2015; pubd online Apr. 2015).