Attribution of cyber operations in International Law - A study of the ILC Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, non-State actors and State liability in the 21st century

Sammanfattning: Attributing internationally wrongful acts to a particular State and liability is a complex problem in international law. The already unclear legal situation is further complicated when aspects of cyber operations are introduced with the rapid global technological development. To hold a State liable for the actions of non-State actors in cyberspace, we can only use secondary law and doctrine. The legal situation as it stands right now is based on doctrine and secondary law where the emphasis is placed on the technical evidence to hold a State accountable. It can thus be stated that there is a discrepancy between the legislation and reality. Additional problems are the nature of international law and its voluntariness. State liability for an internationally wrongful act is difficult because of the rules of evidence, which allow States to evade responsibility by supporting non-State actors without concrete links. The purpose of this essay is to critically analyse and answer the research questions on how a non-State actor's actions can be traced to a State, and what main problems arise when an act is to be traced to the accused state. The essay also provides a summary of valid law and tries to present possible solutions. The research questions that are answered are how international law can be used for State responsibility for cyber operations of non-State actors, and what are the most pronounced complications and solutions when attributing cyber operations to a State? It can be stated that the threshold for State liability under Article 8 ARSIWA and thus the test of effective and overall control is extremely high. There is a discussion as to whether Article 8 and thus also Rule 17 of the Tallinn Manual 2.0 should be extended to include overall control.