The Right of Legitimate Defense Against Cyberattacks in Public International Law

Abstract

The emergence of this unusual occurrence necessitated the intervention of international law, which looked for to regulate it through the prohibition or discouragement of its employment through force, as expressed in Article 4/2 of the United Nations Charter, Additionally, international law aimed to govern the permissible usage of technology in the civil and military fields. This action was undertaken as a reaction to the recent increase in cyberattacks and the growing reliance in all fields This paper aims to analyse the legal criteria surrounding the classification of cyberattacks as acts of military aggression, specifically focusing on the circumstances requiring the use of the right to justified defence against governments and other powerful bodies.