Legal Protection Against Unlawful Cyber Operations

Imagine that you are a citizen of a Central Asian country. Now, not only are you a national of the country, but you actually live in Central Asia and own a highly profitable online business, which operates from a website located on a server within the European Union. Everything seems fine when, all of a sudden, malicious software wipes out all the data on your website, but not before the perpetrator of the attack duplicates its content. Appalled and devastated by the severe damage done and the boldness of the perpetrator, you seek justice and retribution.

What we will examine here is whether there is a legitimate way for someone in this situation to obtain retribution.

Introduction

Information has always meant the difference between triumphant success and miserable failure. However, never before has the importance of information been as evident as it is today. Almost everyone is dependent on the Internet in a way that was previously inconceivable. As such, today information is volatile, rapid and, most importantly, abundantly accessible. However, such benefits could not come without a price. Although information is now more fluid and accessible, it is also vulnerable and fragile, for the Internet is often far from friendly and safe.

Academic circles have aptly described the Internet as the Wild West of our age, where national borders are murky, laws are barely enforceable and users are safe from the lunging grip of the authorities. This state of affairs propagates a certain atmosphere amongst some Internet users and it would not be an exaggeration to state that the spirit of impunity reigns freely, with users free to indulge in doing whatever they wish. Indeed, the actions of an ill-intentioned few are at odds with most national and international laws.

Understanding the modus operandi behind Cyber Operations

The most popular weapon of choice for wreaking damage on the Internet is Cyber Operations (CO). COs are capable of almost anything, from bringing down nuclear reactors and taking control over the US Air Force missile drones, to stealing precious intellectual property from corporate entities and replacing users' profile pictures with offensive imagery. Purely technical means of protection against the onslaught of COs are, of course, available, ranging from the most rudimentary "firewalls", which deny unauthorised access to a computer, to complicated backfiring engines, which literally "hack back" the wannabe hacker. However, no contemporary security system can provide a 100% safety guarantee against COs. Every computer programme, including security systems, has inevitable vulnerabilities, leaving them open to exploitation by malicious users. Therefore, for those behind the COs there is always a way to get around cyber defences, no matter how complicated they are. As such, anything somehow connected to the Internet is at constant risk of cyber assault.

Another important feature of COs is their modus operandi. As they use the most modern technologies, COs pose an advanced challenge to laws, many of which date back to the days of the Roman Empire. Most laws aimed at tackling the threat of COs stem from the legal principles that were designed to punish non-cyber crimes such as burglary and theft, and, as such, could not...