This book aligns with François Delerue's general interest in examining how new technologies challenge and influence international law and international relations, and provides a fresh outlook by applying old international law concepts to these new branches of law. Clearly inspired by his doctoral dissertation titled “State-Sponsored Cyber Operations and International Law” (submitted to European University Institute, 2016), Delerue deals with the suitability and the process of applying international law to cyber operations, especially State-sponsored operations.
Delerue is a research fellow in cyber defense and international law at the Institute for Strategic Research (Institut de Recherche Stratégique de I’École Militaire – IRSEM) and his deep knowledge of cyber security and cyber defense and their relationship with international law is evident in the book. Delerue cogently explains difficult technical concepts in the field of cyber operations and makes these notions easily comprehensible for international lawyers. The book has many examples from real life cases of wrongful cyber operations and these examples ensure that the author's reasoning becomes more relatable. The book is divided into three parts with ten chapters. Part I focuses on the question and process of attribution, particularly to States, in cases of State-sponsored cyber operations. Part II analyses what constitutes an “internationally wrongful act” in case of cyber operations. Building on Part I and Part II, Part III deals with the attribution of a wrongful cyber operation to a State and the consequent reparations that a perpetrating State has to provide (Chapter 9) and the measures of self-help to which the victim State may resort to (Chapter 10).
Although the book is an excellent academic endeavour, it has some logical flaws. For example, the author states that “analyzing what legal regime should apply to State-sponsored cyber operations, whether above or below the threshold of cyber warfare” (p. 41) is the objective of the book. However, the organization and the content of the book indicates that identifying and clarifying the law on international responsibility for wrongful cyber operations is the objective of the book. Further, the novelty of the book lies in it comprehensively dealing with State-sponsored wrongful cyber operations in academic writing, though the same is not clear from the title of the book.
Some logical flaws aside, the book generally provides a thorough analysis of the “mosaic of forms that State-sponsored cyber operations can take and demonstrate[s] that their lawfulness should in the majority of cases be determined beyond the frameworks of jus contra bellum and jus in bello”. Delerue thus establishes correctly that cyber operations are more likely to violate the principles of territorial sovereignty and non-intervention, rather than the prohibition of the use of force which needs a high threshold of attack to be proved. He also establishes that through the mechanism of State responsibility, the wrongfulness of State-sponsored cyber operations can be established and remedies be made available to a victim State.
