حق الدفاع عن النفس نتيجة الهجمات الإلكترونية في ضوء قواعد القانون الدولي العام

Abstract EN

One of the most important issues brought about by modern technological capabilities is that they have produced new and more complex legal questions than answers regarding the relationship between states.

These questions were unprecedented and inconceivable not long ago.

One of the most current complicated questions concerns the availability of legal means to the state to deal with situations where it is subjected to electronic (non-kinetic) aggression by another State.

More specifically, the question is whether or not traditional legal rules on the use of force and self-defense are consistent with the notion of cyber attacks.

Is a cyber attack legally entitled to self-defense as required by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations? Or is it merely a use of force under Article 2 (4) Charter that leaves the aggressor state with no legal option to defend itself? Or else, is there another distinct approach particularly designed to deal with cyber attacks? This paper handles these important legal questions through a comprehensive review of the rules of international law on the use of force in general and self-defense in particular and the relation between them.

In addition, the paper looks at the current state of practice of states in an attempt to forecast any emerging customary international law in this regard.