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Cyberterrorism within the Broader International Counter-Terrorism Framework

Opinnäytetyöt 15.11.2021, Gradut ja muut tutkielmat

Terrorism has caused a tremendous amount of direct and indirect human suffering on a global scale in the 20th and 21st centuries. As a response, a vast collection of international and domestic regulation to combat this fundamental threat has emerged during the last few decades. However, the advent of the internet and the rapid wave of technological advancement that has resulted from it have created a new type of terrorist threat, that of cyberterrorism.

The central aim of this thesis is to compare the global counter-terrorism framework applicable to conventional terrorism with that applied specifically to cyberterrorism and to analyze their potential similarities and discrepancies in a larger context. This thesis seeks to highlight some of the inherent biases of international law and how they are reflected in the global counter-terrorism framework.

Based on the analysis of this thesis, the main weaknesses of the current international framework are the lack of a general definition of terrorism in both treaty and customary law and the politically sensitive issue of whether to include in the normative instruments the exceptions for state terrorism and for the right of freedom movements to resist foreign occupation under their right of self-determination. These issues, in addition to the specific problem regarding attribution in cyberspace, are also the central weak points of cyberterrorism regulation. Several elements of the current response to terrorism are also guided by domestic and global politics, islamophobia and neo-colonialism.

This thesis concludes that, despite its flaws, the most effective and justified solution to the aforementioned issues would be to either finally conclude the U.N. Draft Comprehensive Convention on Terrorism or to draft new “sectoral” international treaties that are specifically targeted at cyberterrorist threats.
(Edilex-toimitus)

Asiasanat
• Kyberturvallisuus - Terrorismi - Yhdistyneet Kansakunnat

Linkit
• Yhdistyneiden Kansakuntien peruskirja ja Kansainvälisen Tuomioistuimen perussääntö
• Kansainvälinen yleissopimus panttivankien ottamista vastaan