Means and methods of cyber warfare

== Definition ==
Means and methods of cyber warfare
International humanitarian law (IHL) regulates the conduct of hostilities through principles and rules concerning weapons, means, and methods of warfare.See ICRC CIHL Study, vol I, parts III–IV; see also United States, FM 6-27, MCTP 11-10C, The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Land Warfare (August 2019) 2-1. A bedrock principle of modern IHL is that the right of the parties to the conflict to choose methods and means of warfare is not unlimited.See Article 22 Hague Regulations; Article 35 AP I. This principle reflects customary international law and is one of the most widely recognized and accepted principles in IHL.[1] See UN GA, Resolution 2444 (1968), UN Doc A/7218 (adopted unanimously), para. 1(a); ICTY, Prosecutor v Tadić, Decision on the Defence Motion for Interlocutory Appeal on Jurisdiction, Appeals Chamber, Case No. IT-94-1, 2 October 1995, paras. 110 and 112 (holding that principles enshrined in Resolution 2444 reflected customary international law at the time); Nuclear Weapons Advisory Opinion, paras. 78–79 (affirming that the principle that ‘States do not have unlimited freedom of choice of means in the weapons they use’ is one of ‘intransgressible principles of international customary law’); San Remo Manual, Rule 38 (‘In any armed conflict the right of the parties to the conflict to choose methods or means of warfare is not unlimited.’); AMW Manual, Rule 4 (‘The fundamental principle is that, in any armed conflict, the right of the Belligerent Parties to choose methods or means of warfare is not unlimited.’). It binds all States and other parties in both international and non-international armed conflicts.See William H Boothby, The Law of Targeting (OUP 2012) 58. Central to understanding and applying this principle and the rules that operationalize it are the terms weapons, means, and methods of warfare. As a threshold matter, it is crucial to recognize that, despite these terms’ foundational nature in IHL, divergent views and approaches exist concerning their definitions in treaties, State regulations, and unofficial publications.See Jeffrey T Biller and Michael N Schmitt, ‘Classification of Cyber Capabilities and Operations as Weapons, Means, or Methods of Warfare’ (2019) 95 Int’l L Stud 179, 202.
Methods of warfare are tactics or strategies to weaken the enemy or gain an advantage during military operations, while means of warfare refer to the weapons or devices used in combat.See Geoffrey S Corn and others, The Law of Armed Conflict: An Operational Approach (2nd ed., Wolters Kluwer 2019) 288.  See also United States, FM 6-27, MCTP 11-10C, The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Land Warfare (August 2019) 2-1. For instance, the use of ruses in armed conflicts is a lawful and commonly accepted method of warfare. Ruses include using decoys or dummy materials, feigning activity or inactivity, and using camouflage, among many other tactics and techniques.See Gary D Solis, The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War (2nd ed., CUP 2016) 464-467. Human shields, misuse of protected emblems, or perfidy are examples of methods of warfare that are prohibited.
By contrast, means of warfare include weapons or devices such as machine guns, tanks, airplanes, submarines, missiles, drones, rifles, and many others.Dave Wallace and Shane R Reeves, ‘Modern Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict’ in Geoffrey S Corn, Rachel E VanLandingham, and Shane R. Reeves (eds), U.S. Military Operations: Law, Policy, and Practice (OUP 2016) 41. A weapon is “generally understood as that aspect of the system used to cause damage or destruction to objects or injury or death to persons,” and characterizes both weapons and weapon systems as means of warfare.See Tallinn Manual 2.0, commentary to rule 103. Various rules of IHL operationalize the terms weapons, methods, and means. These include, but are not limited to, the weapons review requirement and process,Article 36 AP I. the prohibition on unnecessary suffering,Article 23 (e) Hague Regulations; Art. 35(2) AP I. precautions in the attack,Article 57 AP I. and the law of neutrality.See Hague Conventions V and XIII.
Tallinn Manual 2.0 outlines a definitional framework for the terms means and methods of warfare in the cyber context. According to the Manual, “[c]yber means of warfare” includes both cyber weapons and related systems and includes cyber devices, material, instrument, mechanisms, equipment, or software used, designed, or intended to be used to conduct a cyber-attack.Tallinn Manual 2.0, commentary to rule 103. Cyber weapons are means of warfare used, designed, or intended to cause injury to, or death of, persons or damage to, or destruction of, objects.Tallinn Manual 2.0, commentary to rule 103. Finally, Tallinn Manual 2.0 states that “methods of cyber warfare are the cyber tactics, techniques, and procedures by which hostilities are conducted”.Tallinn Manual 2.0, rule 103. Hacking, phishing, distributed denial of service, and the use of so-called honeypots and watering holes are typical examples of methods of cyber warfare.See Jeffrey T Biller and Michael N Schmitt, ‘Classification of Cyber Capabilities and Operations as Weapons, Means, or Methods of Warfare’ (2019) 95 Int’l L Stud 179, 219.
Publicly available national positions that address this issue include: 
 (2023),
 (2024), 
 (2019), 
 (2021), 
 (2021).
==National positions==
===Austria (2024)===
===Costa Rica (2023)===
===France (2019)===
===Germany (2021)===
===Switzerland (2021)===
==Appendixes==
===See also===
* Scenario 10: Legal review of cyber weapons
* Scenario 22: Cyber methods of warfare
* Neutrality
===Notes and references===
===Bibliography and further reading===
Category:Means and methods of cyber warfare
Category:International humanitarian law
Category:Legal concepts