Border Control in Cyberspace? Exploring the Effectiveness of State Protection From Cyberattacks

Abstract

In the cyberspace dimension, the concept of sovereignty has faced significant scrutiny as cyberattacks continue to threaten state sovereignty and territorial control. This essay delves into the relationship between sovereignty violations, attribution challenges and the effectiveness of state protection in cyberspace.

The traditional understanding of sovereignty, rooted in physical territory boundaries, falls victim to the cyberspace phenomenon, where the basis for the traditional understanding do not comply with the borderless nature of cyberspace. This makes it difficult for states to attribute attacks to specific actors as well as complications in claiming sovereignty violations. This essay will therefore discuss how sovereignty can be assimilated to cyberspace attacks and that a new understanding, using the Tallinn Manual 2.0, ought to be established. The process of attribution will also be discussed in depth regarding its applicability with cyberattacks in the current form and how best to enhance the attribution model. These two concerns lead us to briefly mention recent case examples of cyberattacks and how states have responded. Whether or not the responses achieve effective state protection is the overall aim of this essay.

The first chapter will introduce the topic, following this we will discuss both sovereignty and attribution respectively, completing the essay with two case studies on the topic of effective protection from cyberattacks.