Attribution by Indictment

The challenges of attributing malicious cyber activity—that is, identifying its authors and provenance with a sufficient degree of certainty—are well documented. This essay focuses on a phenomenon that I call “attribution by indictment.” Since 2014, the United States has issued more than a dozen ind...

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Main Author: Chimène I. Keitner
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2019-01-01
Series:AJIL Unbound
Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2398772319000345/type/journal_article
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author Chimène I. Keitner
author_facet Chimène I. Keitner
author_sort Chimène I. Keitner
collection DOAJ
description The challenges of attributing malicious cyber activity—that is, identifying its authors and provenance with a sufficient degree of certainty—are well documented. This essay focuses on a phenomenon that I call “attribution by indictment.” Since 2014, the United States has issued more than a dozen indictments that implicate four foreign states in malicious cyber activity: China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea. Ten of these indictments were issued in 2018, suggesting that this practice is likely to continue and even intensify in the near term. Attribution by indictment uses domestic criminal law, enforced transnationally, to define and enforce certain norms of state behavior in cyberspace. This essay analyzes the U.S. practice of attribution by indictment as a response to malicious cyber activity.
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spelling doaj.art-c6967023ee3b4e8ea2849df7d71e40aa2023-03-09T12:27:09ZengCambridge University PressAJIL Unbound2398-77232019-01-0111320721210.1017/aju.2019.34Attribution by IndictmentChimène I. Keitner0Alfred & Hanna Fromm Professor of International Law, UC Hastings Law.The challenges of attributing malicious cyber activity—that is, identifying its authors and provenance with a sufficient degree of certainty—are well documented. This essay focuses on a phenomenon that I call “attribution by indictment.” Since 2014, the United States has issued more than a dozen indictments that implicate four foreign states in malicious cyber activity: China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea. Ten of these indictments were issued in 2018, suggesting that this practice is likely to continue and even intensify in the near term. Attribution by indictment uses domestic criminal law, enforced transnationally, to define and enforce certain norms of state behavior in cyberspace. This essay analyzes the U.S. practice of attribution by indictment as a response to malicious cyber activity.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2398772319000345/type/journal_article
spellingShingle Chimène I. Keitner
Attribution by Indictment
AJIL Unbound
title Attribution by Indictment
title_full Attribution by Indictment
title_fullStr Attribution by Indictment
title_full_unstemmed Attribution by Indictment
title_short Attribution by Indictment
title_sort attribution by indictment
url https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2398772319000345/type/journal_article
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