Fundamental Obstacles Facing the Codification of International Law Governing Cyber-Attacks

Cyber-attacks are unknown spheres in international law due to the abstract nature of cyber-space and their intangible implications in relation to the objective space. The pursuit of international law in cyber-space, such as the advent of Alice in Wonderland, is full of wonders that, when compared with the world’s objective laws, the correct answer cannot be found for the events that occur within it. This process has led to the emergence of barriers to the development of international law governing cyber-attacks, most of which include the weakness of international legal literature on the concept of cyber-attacks and the weakness of communication between the real world and the cyber/virtual world. Although the principles and rules of international law respond partly to some of the international legal aspects of cyber-crime attacks, disagreement among governments suggests that current responses are inadequate  and inconsistencies prevail. However, two general approaches namely drafting regional and international treaties and confidence-building measures might be introduced in order to overcome the fundamental obstacles that hinder the development of international law governing cyber-attacks, through which international legal literature relating to cyber-attacks could be well-developed.