An Armed Attack for Cyber Espionage

A Just War in 2020

By Scott F. Owen

Scott F. Owen is an Albany Law School alum, class of 2020, Magna Cum Laude. He grew up in Westchester, New York, and graduated from the University of Delaware where he studied History and Philosophy. 

At the law school, Scott was the Executive Editor of New York Appeals with Albany Law Review, Volume 84; he was the Vice-President of Business Law Society; and he received the Justinian Society award upon graduation. 

Currently, Scott is an incoming associate, July 2021 BAR applicant, and is focusing on civil litigation.  In his free time, Scott enjoys hiking, running, playing chess, and playing basketball. He is the proud son of Chris Owen and Claudia Nerreau.

“The utility of cyber is not as a weapon of war but as a weapon short of war.”  Cyber-attacks have been used with increasing effect and regularity over the past twenty-five years.  Despite this, the international law community—the United Nations' Security Council, the International Court of Justice, among others—have barely analyzed its legality if at all. Cyber-attacks continue to occur unabated globally with no signs of slowing down due to the lack of attention it has drawn.

This paper will discuss the Security Council and International Court of Justice, Article 51 and its history, and cyber-attacks against the United States. Additionally, this paper will address whether the United States could justify an armed attack against a State that conducted a cyber-attack against the United States, and whether the United States would respond to a cyber-attack with an armed attack.  Lastly, this paper will analyze what could be done to curtail cyber-attacks in the future, and whether any strategy would be fruitful.  

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To read the paper, open HERE.

The Rise of International Cybercrime

By Erica K. Waters

Erica Waters, originally the class of 2016, graduated from Albany Law School in December 2015 after accelerating her studies into a two-and-a-half-year program. While attending Albany Law School, she was a member of the Moot Court Board, competed on an appellate travel team, and, along with her partner Kellan Potts, won the Fall 2015 Donna Jo Morse Client Counseling competition.
Ms. Waters passed the February 2016 New York State Bar Examination, and is currently awaiting admission to the New York Bar. Currently, Ms. Waters is an Associate at The Colwell Law Group, LLC in Albany, New York.
She prepared this paper for Prof. Bonventre’s International Law of War & Crime Seminar.

Few topics in the international community are so current and demanding of multi-national attention than that of international cybercrime. With the digital age upon us, war and crime are now dealt with online just as much, if not more, than in the traditional sense of hand-to-hand combat or via state intrusion.

Cybercrime is a fast-growing area of crime, especially in the international arena.  More criminals are exploiting the speed, convenience, and anonymity of the Internet to commit a diverse range of criminal activities that know no borders, cause serious harm on an undefined scale, and pose real threats to victims worldwide.

As cybercrime is a relatively novel topic compared to its more traditional counterparts, what has the international community done to keep up with this very real, very immediate threat? This paper will briefly address the international community’s response to international cybercrime, with an eye toward the next steps in addressing this growing facet of our globalized world.
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To read the entire paper, open HERE.