War and Ethics in Cyberspace: Cyber-Conflict and Just War Theory

Over the last two decades there is a growing body of literature over exploiting cyberspace for offensive and defensive purposes. Cyber-conflict is after all the newest mode of warfare and cyber-weapons have been described as weapons of mass disruption. Although the attention on the technical and military dimensions of cyberspace is justifiable, one needs also to look into the legal and ethical aspects of cyber-conflict, in order to comprehend the complex nature of cyberspace. Conflict in cyberspace raises many ethical questions for both theorists and practitioners of warfare. In particular, the lack of an international legal framework that defines the use of force in cyberspace, operational difficulties in deterring and identifying cyber-attacks as well as the asymmetric dimension of cyber-conflicts pose without a doubt, great pressure on the just war tradition. This paper applies just war theory (jus ad bellum, jus in bello and jus post bellum) in cyberspace and explores when and how states may justly resort to cyber-conflict, operate during such a conflict and terminate it. Cyberspace is accessible to all and there are no rules or norms providing guidelines for the use of force. In addition to that, cyber-conflict appears to be less lethal and has a global reach. As a result, cyberspace makes conflict more thinkable, but that does not mean that it must also be unjust.