The vital role of international law in the framework for responsible state behaviour in cyberspace

This article explores the importance of international law in debates about responsible behaviour in cyberspace – in providing a rules-based framework, in legitimising states’ actions in response to unlawful activity in cyberspace by other states, and in lending normative force to statements calling out malicious cyber activity. At the same time, the article seeks to highlight the challenges involved in applying international law, and uses the application of two peacetime precepts of international law – the principle of sovereignty and the principle of non-intervention in other states’ internal affairs – to illustrate some of the doctrinal issues with which states are grappling. While acknowledging these challenges, the article concludes that even if the UN parallel processes in the form of the Open Ended Working Group and Group of Government Experts do not result in substantial agreement between states on issues of international law, the debates in themselves are valuable in encouraging states to deliberate on these issues and to make their views public. By publicising their views, states add momentum to the journey towards cyber-specific understandings of international law.