Abstract:

Cyber warfare as already established in the previous chapter is the act of hostilities in the cyberspace through cyber means and method which is analogous to the military hostilities that are conducted in the situations of the armed conflict. The unique nature that is associated with the cyber operations such as the dual use and the nature of the cyber arsenal and the effects generated by their use makes it a daunting task to govern such hostilities under the current framework of the international humanitarian law. Yet, any armed attack or an attack whose effects tantamount the effects of the traditional military weapons having uncontrollable effects, directed indiscriminately, in the international as well as non-international armed conflict are prohibited under the international law of war. With the terms incidental and related to the cyber operations defined and the differences between the different kinds of cyber operations enunciated the chapter further moves on with discussing the major cyber events that occurred in the past few decades and an attempt will be made to classify the cyber events as the cyber operations or an act of warfare that crosses the threshold of the use of force.

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