The Increasing Prevalence of Cyber Operations and the Inadequacy of International Law to Address Them

Global Tides Volume 19 Article 7 April 2025 The Increasing Prevalence of Cyber Operations and the Inadequacy of International Law to Address Them Gabriel Smedes Pepperdine University, Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/globaltides Part of the Human Rights Law Commons, International Humanitarian Law Commons, International Law Commons, Privacy Law Commons, and the Science and Technology Law Commons Recommended Citation Smedes, Gabriel (2025) "The Increasing Prevalence of Cyber Operations and the Inadequacy of International Law to Address Them," Global Tides: Vol. 19, Article 7. Available at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/globaltides/vol19/iss1/7 This International Studies and Languages is brought to you for free and open access by the Seaver College at Pepperdine Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Global Tides by an authorized editor of Pepperdine Digital Commons. For more information, please contact . Smedes: International Cyber Law Smedes 1 General Overview “This world–cyberspace–is a world that we depend on every single day…[it] has made us more interconnected than at any time in human history…So cyberspace is real. And so are the risks that come with it.”1 - Former U.S. President Barack Obama Since its introduction in the early 1980s, the Internet has evolved and integrated itself into nearly every aspect of daily life.2 With an estimated 60-80% of the world carrying a computer in their pocket in the form of a mobile smartphone,3 and even more having daily access to the Internet, an endless wealth of information and assistance is now quite literally at one’s fingertips. However, this emerging digital realm does come with many dangers. With digital technology advancing rapidly, municipal and international management and regulations have struggled to keep pace, causing cyber threats to pose a significant risk to nations and individuals alike. In the last fifteen years, the use of cyber as a means to facilitate operations within warfare has become an issue of international risk. The United Kingdom has presented “cyber attack, including those by other States, and by organised crime and terrorists” as one of the four ‘Tier One’ threats to national security since 2010.4 The UK is not alone in seeing cyber attacks as a major threat. The United States has listed cyber attacks as the number one global threat in its Worldwide Threat Assessments conveyed to Congress by the Director of National Intelligence 1 Barack Obama, “Text: Obama’s Remarks on Cyber-Security,” New York Times, May 29, 2009. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/us/politics/29obama.text.html. 2 “A Brief History of the Internet,” University System of Georgia, accessed November 21, 2023. https://www.usg. edu/galileo/skills/unit07/internet07_02.phtml. 3 Laura Silver, “Smartphone Ownership is Growing Rapidly Around the World, but Not always Equally,” Pew Research Center, February 5, 2019. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/02/05/smartphone-ownership-is-grow ing-rapidly-around-the-world-but-not-always-equally/. 4 “Integrated Review Refresh 2023: Responding to a more contested and volatile world,” GOV.UK, updated May 16, 2023, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/integrated-review-refresh-2023-responding-to-a-more-contested -and-volatile-world/integrated-review-refresh-2023-responding-to-a-more-contested-and-volatile-world. Published by Pepperdine Digital Commons, 2024 1 Global Tides, Vol. 19 [2024], Art. 7 Smedes 2 from 2013 to 2019,5 and continues to place the threat of cyber attacks as one of the most pressing global risks.6 The Internet has been in existence for 40 years; however, it has only yet become a staple of daily life within the last two decades.7 Because of this, the threat that attackers can pose through means of cyber operations is a new and original concept to the international community. For this reason, there are very few definitions for cyber operations, cyber attacks, and cyber warfare, and the distinction between cybercrime and cyber attacks, none of which are universally accepted. This lack of definitions and the novelty of cyberspace generate confusion regarding the place of cyber operations within international law and the application of preceding laws. The majority of pre-existing international laws are difficult to apply to cyber operations. It is necessary that international law evolves with the changing climate of the world’s threats and adapts existing legislation and norms to apply to cyberspace and cyber operations. Failing to do so will leave states unable to respond to the growing threat that the lack of regulations on cyberspace poses to the international community. Definitional Challenges Cyberspace is a new and ever-evolving arena in the international scene. With roots in the early 90s, the Internet has only been a communication staple for around 25 years.8 Being such a fundamental part of most people’s daily lives, yet still, such a new technology, it is no wonder 5 Cynthia E. Ayers, Rethinking Sovereignty in the Context of Cyberspace, (Carlisle Barracks Pennsylvania: U.S. Army War College, 2016), 1. https://permanent.fdlp.gov/gpo153133/csl.armywarcollege.edu/usacsl/Publications/ Rethinking%20sovereignty.pdf. 6 “Annual Threat Assessment of The U.S. Intelligence Community,” Office of the Director of National Intelligence, February 6, 2023. 7 “A Short History of the Internet,” Science and Media Museum, December 3, 2020, https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/short-history-internet#:~:text=By%201995%20the %20internet%20and,around%2010%20million%20global%20users. 8 “A Short History of the Internet.” https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/globaltides/vol19/iss1/7 2 Smedes: International Cyber Law Smedes 3 that it is hard for states and organizations to keep pace and implement safety guidelines. Currently, nearly all developed nations have most of their critical infrastructure linked to and in some cases controlled by digital technologies or the Internet.9 Areas such as power grids, healthcare systems, air traffic, transportation, and financial institutions all rely heavily on digital technologies and access to the Internet to operate.10 This shared reliance on such new technology can be an enormous weakness and an easy opening for attacks. Cyberspace is a broad realm and can include endless situations and topics. The National Institute of Standards and Technology for the U.S. Department of Commerce gives a general definition of cyberspace as a “global domain…consisting of the interdependent network of information systems… including the Internet, telecommunications networks, computer systems, and embedded processors and controllers.”11 There are many different terms within the world of cyberspace and concerning its potential vulnerability; however, there are few universally acknowledged definitions and classifications. Cyberwar is a phrase that has been center (...truncated)