Cyber
Tripwires to Trojans: Updating the Law of Booby-traps for the Digital Age
Articles of War has featured discussion of the law of armed conflict (LOAC) rules concerning booby-traps (see, e.g., here, here, here, and here). All have been based in the land domain. I am interested in the application of the idea in the cyber domain. Under the...
Military Objective or Civilian Object? The Italian National Cybersecurity Agency’s Status in Case of Armed Conflict
The increasing reliance of States on cyber infrastructure for both civilian and military purposes has generated renewed debate on the protection of such infrastructure under international humanitarian law (IHL). The Italian National Cybersecurity Agency (Agenzia per...
Future of Warfare and Law Series – Introduction
Editors’ note: This post introduces a series featuring topics discussed during the Third Annual Future of Warfare and the Law Symposium. This past May, a community of military legal scholars and technical experts met at the Third Annual Future of Warfare and the Law...
The Internal Proportionality Assessment in Cyberspace
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia’s Prosecutor v. Prlić et al. Appeals Chamber judgment, as well as the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission’s Western Front arbitral award found that a bridge and an electrical power station, respectively,...
CyCon 2025 Series – AI-Enabled Offensive Cyber Operations: Legal Challenges in the Shadows of Automation
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series that features presentations at this year’s 17th International Conference on Cyber Conflict (CyCon) in Tallinn, Estonia. Its subject will be explored further as part of a chapter in the forthcoming book International Law and...
Firewalls and Fault Lines: Cyber War in the Middle East
Following the Iran-Israel War, a conflict blending relentless Israel Defense Force (IDF) airstrikes with Iranian missile and drone barrages, some Middle Eastern battlefields have quieted, making it easy to forget that a less visible but equally perilous cyber war...
Non-State Cyber Actors in the 12-Day War – The Gray Zone of LOAC, Part II
Editors’ note: In a prior post Professor Gary Corn described recent cyber operations undertaken during conflict between Iran and Israel. He related details of the hacking group, Predatory Sparrow, and mapped possible legal analysis of its status under the law of armed...
Non-State Cyber Actors in the 12-Day War – The Gray Zone of LOAC, Part I
Editors’ note: In this two-part series, Professor Gary Corn examines law of armed conflict issues arising from cyber operations conducted during the recent conflict between Israel and Iran. With little fanfare, the traditional line between public and private war was...
Time to Treat Hackers Like Satellites: Why Cyber Needs the Outer Space Rulebook
If you want to understand what’s missing in cyberspace, look up. In 1967, at the height of the Cold War, the international community agreed on the Outer Space Treaty (OST), a legal framework that still governs activity beyond Earth today. The foundational insight of...
Interning a Hacker
Recently, at a workshop at Harvard Law School, I grappled with the question of internment in any international armed conflict (IAC) in the near future. It is a question some are uncomfortable with, although the concept of internment remains legally available under...
One Year On: Are the ICRC’s Principles for Civilian Hackers Shaping the Laws of War?
In October 2023, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) laid down a stark warning: cyber warfare must not spiral into lawless destruction. Their eight rules for civilian hackers and four obligations for States were a bold attempt to align cyber operations...
Year Ahead – The Coming Year’s Evolution in the Law of Cyber Operations
Editors’ note: We are pleased to announce that Articles of War has recently added several thematic editors to our staff. Each editor has contributed a post to this year’s Year Ahead series with thoughts on issues or situations they recommend our readers track over the...
