Legal Aspects of Cybersecurity Artur Appazov

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Cybersecurity as an Umbrella Concept
 
In general, the literature suggests to distinguishing between various types of cybersecurity 
concerns. It separates a basic cyberattack into three general categories: cybercrime, 
cyberterrorism, and cyberwarfare. Cyberespionage is another separate cybersecurity 
concern connected to either state intelligence or such notion as hacktivism. Dividing 
cybersecurity into manageable components facilitates the development of national and 
international law governing the rights and duties of individuals and nations with respect to 
each category of activity (with the exception of espionage, there are no legal treaties that 
regulate espionage, separating cyberespionage as notion that falls outside the legal 
regulation). This approach can help address the shortcomings of present national and 
international legal frameworks in a more effective manner.
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As discussed, cyberattacks often do not closely resemble traditional criminal activity; it is 
often difficult to establish that the conduct at issue is criminal, as opposed to an act of war 
or terrorism. In the context of cyberspace, states generate crime and terrorism as well as 
war, and individuals wage war in addition to committing crimes and carrying out acts of 
34
Stahl, G
EORGIA 
J
OURNAL OF 
I
NTERNATIONAL AND 
C
OMPARATIVE 
L
AW
, 260 (2011). 
35
Schmitt, Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare 34-35. 2013. 
36
Stahl, G
EORGIA 
J
OURNAL OF 
I
NTERNATIONAL AND 
C
OMPARATIVE 
L
AW
, 270 (2011). 

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terrorism. Cyberattacks largely defy the simple categorization of activity defined by 
existing laws making it difficult for nations to apply the traditional definitions of crime, 
terrorism, warfare or espionage as understood under existing law. Traditional 
classifications of crime, terrorism, and warfare break down due to the aforementioned 
asymmetric nature of network communication. By giving nonstate actors access to a new, 
diffuse kind of power, cyberspace erodes states’ monopolization of the ability to wage war 
and effectively levels the playing field between all actors.
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The legal and legislative analyses of cybersecurity issues must distinguish not only among 
different cyberthreat categories enumerated above and actors, such as nation-states, 
terrorists, criminals, and malicious hackers, but also among different types of cyberthreats. 
Such cyberthreats include threats to critical infrastructure, which could lead to loss of life 
or significant damage to our economy; and threats to intellectual property, which could 
affect a nation’s long-term competitiveness.
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Concerning critical infrastructure, some commentators believe that at the moment, there is 
no real likelihood that non-state actors possess the capacity to bring down the banks, 
transportation systems, electric grid, and communication systems through catastrophic 
cyberaggression.
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Wall, for example, attributes the ‘popularity’ of cybercrime to the media. 
He posits that the media construction of the cybersecurity imagery is so spectacularly 
dramatized and the internet is so newsworthy that a single dramatic incident of cybercrime 
has the power to shape public opinion and fuel public anxiety, frequently resulting in 
demands for instant and simple solutions to extremely complex situations.
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However, 
despite such skepticism, commentators accept that cyberterrorism and cyberwar are a 
nearing reality. Cybercrime, they warn, is advancing in both volume and sophistication.
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Modern hackers use increasingly sophisticated methods to attack a variety of targets that 
occupy nearly every corner of our society: private persons, corporations, religious 
37
Id. at, 261. 
38
Jorge L. Contreras, et al.,