Law Commons^™

Self-Defensive Force Against Cyber Attacks: Legal, Strategic And Political Dimensions, Matthew C. Waxman

Faculty Scholarship

When does a cyber attack (or threat of cyber attack) give rise to a right of self-defense – including armed self-defense – and when should it? By "cyber attack" I mean the use of malicious computer code or electronic signals to alter, disrupt, degrade or destroy computer systems or networks or the information or programs on them. It is widely believed that sophisticated cyber attacks could cause massive harm – whether to military capabilities, economic and financial systems, or social functioning – because of modern reliance on system interconnectivity, though it is highly contested how vulnerable the United States and …

Cyber Attacks As "Force" Under Un Charter Article 2(4), Matthew C. Waxman

Faculty Scholarship

In a 2010 article in Foreign Affairs, Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn revealed that in 2008 the Department of Defense suffered "the most significant breach of U.S. military computers ever" when a flash drive inserted into a US military laptop surreptitiously introduced malicious software into US Central Command's classified and unclassified computer systems. Lynn explains that the US government is developing defensive systems to protect military and civilian electronic infrastructure from intrusions and, potentially worse, disruptions and destruction, and it is developing its own cyber-strategy "to defend the United States in the digital age."

To what extent is …