Rohit Mehrotra Writes: Threats in cyber space are headed North at an alarming pace with new and bigger incidents being reported from some or the other part of the globe. The very nature of Internet with multifaceted stakeholders and users – each with different intention and motivation pose a threat to the acceptable civilized behaviour in cyber domain. The cyberspace and Internet are increasingly being used for purposes other than what it was originally meant for i.e. to facilitate real-time/ near real-time communication between entities across the globe. No doubt, it has been able to meet this requirement, but the ease of accessibility of cyber space coupled with the difficulty in attribution have paved way for nation states as well as the non-state actors in exploiting the cyber domain for wrongful economic gains, ideological proselytization, political motivation and cybercrimes including terrorist activities. As per the article, ‘Norms of Cyber war in Peacetime’, by Fergus Hanson, the potential risk of cyber-attacks is increasing and there is no clear-cut delineation between the levels of attack viz what type of an attack should qualify as an armed attack under the international law and its response thereto.
With the cyber space being increasingly utilized for unlawful and malicious activities: more so due to improvement in capabilities and their proliferation – the cyber space is becoming hostile and the vulnerability to cyber-attacks is on the rise. Countries world over are working to strengthen their security in this domain. While protecting their own cyber space, countries need to understand that cyber security is an international issue and not just a national issue; this being global common. Policy initiatives and basic framework including regulatory mechanisms need to be put in place for cyber domain at the earliest. However, there is an urgent need for implementation of an internationally acceptable convention for behaviour in cyber space besides a globally acceptable cyber security treaty to tackle the problems posed by conflict of laws in cyberspace effectively. Although some Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties exist between some nations, there is a growing need for an international consensus on the issue of dealing with the violations in the cyberspace on lines similar to those existing under Article 51 of UN Charter which states that, “States; individually or collectively have the right to defend themselves against an ‘armed attack”. In addition, stipulation as to what are the rules of the game for civilized behaviour in cyber space and what would be construed as a violation need to be spelt out loudly and clearly. Though a lot of work is being done in the area of international law to understand the terms ‘armed act,’ ‘acts of aggression’ and ‘force’, but there seems to be little consensus on the issues related to cyber at the international level and this needs to be built. It is imperative that such initiatives should emanate from countries like the United States, Russia and China so that other democracies of the world can be taken on board so as to grapple with this problem before it turns in to a monster.