New Technologies and CBRN Events: International Obligations in the Cybersecurity Domain

This chapter aims at highlighting the role of the rules of international law applicable in the cyber domain in preventing, responding, and attributing international responsibility for CBRN events. Next to introductory and concluding sections, the chapter comes in three parts. First, the study lays down the factual background of the interplay between cyber and CBRN security, analysing the role of ICTs in activities concerning the management of hazardous materials – thus their potential role in triggering intentional and accidental CBRN events. To this effect, the chapter provides an overview of recent situations in which cyberattack have targeted CBRN facilities, and argues that a cyberattack targeting critical infrastructures causing denial of service may prompt and/or worsen the effect of a CBRN event. Second, the chapter deals with the ongoing debate on the application of rules of international law to cyber space. Following the current debate within the UN and the most recent State practice on the matter in point, the chapter argues that most States’ obligations are applicable to their conducts carried out via ICTs. It is also showed that a wide consensus exists in the international community as to the applicability of traditional secondary rules on State responsibility in the cyber domain, notwithstanding the practical difficulties thereto. Third and last, the study assesses whether States’ obligation to prevent and respond to CBRN events under human rights and environmental law also encompasses a due diligence obligation to assess whether cyber security measures enacted by private operators are adequate to prevent denial of service or other cyberattacks which may prompt or worsen a CBRN event.