![]() Given the global ubiquity of cyberspace, it is not hard to see that rules are needed to constrain cyber activity. Indeed, states have agreed that international law places limits on their cyber operations. It does not address the application of other bodies of international law. This Insight explores how international humanitarian law applies to cyber operations. ![]() In more succinct terms, cyber operations present risks of serious unintended harm in situations of armed conflict, including death and injury to civilians, and damage to civilian objects protected under IHL. At the same time, civilian logistical supply chains and essential civilian services use the same cyber infrastructure through which some military communications pass. Military networks may rely on civilian cyber infrastructure, such as undersea fiber-optic cables, satellites, routers or nodes. From the perspective of international humanitarian law (or IHL, also known as the law of armed conflict), this raises the question of what cyber operators may and may not attack during armed conflicts, what even constitutes an "attack" under IHL in cyberspace, and what the reverberating effects of those attacks could be on civilians. Cyberspace is so omnipresent that it can seem banal, but it is also a target-rich environment from a military perspective, with modern armies deeply reliant on digital infrastructure.
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