The Various Dimensions of Cyberthreats: (In)consistencies in the Global Regulation of Cybersecurity

The Information Revolution enables wide and fast access to data but it also creates intruders intending to harm systems and cause damages. Despite the increasing sophistication of the attacks, the technical knowledge of the user is in fact declining. That can be explained by the fact that attack scripts and toolkits are available for beginners with devastating effects for society. Any computer connected to the internet today is vulnerable to threats such as viruses, worms, and other attacks. Cybersecurity threats are difficult to classify as the different categories overlap and the activities can originate from an individual actor or from non-state actors and groups. Cyberthreats differ from traditional security issues mainly with regard to attribution and jurisdiction as a cyberattack can be done from anywhere, without the actor leaving home. In that respect, the main focus of the present paper is to revisit the different dimensions of cyberthreats and to classify them on the basis of definitions and descriptions used in international instruments with a view to establish (in)consistencies between the various norms. Our findings suggest that, despite the quite fragmented regulatory systems around the world, there is to a very large extent agreement on the basic notions and definitions. This offers a good starting point for the ongoing debates on a further harmonisation of the global norms on cybersecurity, such as in the case of cybercrime.