WASHINGTON, DC — The Atlantic Council and the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCD COE), in partnership with the Embassy of the Netherlands, launched Tallinn Manual 2.0 on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Operations, the most comprehensive analysis of how existing international law applies to cyber operations. The Manual is authored by nineteen international law experts, and considerably updates and expands on the highly influential 2013 Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare.

“The 154 black letter rules of the Tallinn Manual 2.0 reflect the consensus of our diverse, experienced and global group of experts. Taking a comprehensive look at how international law applies to cyber space, we assessed states’ rights and obligations in the cyber context,” explains Professor Michael N Schmitt, the director of the Tallinn Manual Process. “We analyzed, among other issues, state responsibility for operations in cyber space, standards of attribution, the obligation to respect state sovereignty and what the possible responses of victim states to cyberattacks might be,” adds Liis Vihul, the book’s managing editor from the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence.

Dutch Ambassador Henne Schuwer said, “The Netherlands is committed to promoting the international legal order in cyberspace just as much as in the offline world. The expansion of the original Tallinn Manual has been a great opportunity for the Netherlands to facilitate more dialogue on peacetime international law and cyber operations…It is important that states reach common understandings about how international law applies and to that end Tallinn Manual 2.0 will be an invaluable resource.”

“The Tallinn Manual 2.0 is a welcome update that has become increasingly relevant and needed in the last six months,” said Joshua Corman, director of the Cyber Statecraft Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security. “We are excited to work with the NATO CCD COE and the Embassy of the Netherlands to ensure the global community knows how international law applies in cyberspace – as well as what is yet undefined.”

The rollout of the report featured a panel of experts, including Professor Michael Schmitt, director of the Tallinn Manual Process and chairman of the International Law Department of the United States Naval War College; the Hon. Jane Holl Lute, board director at the Atlantic Council and special coordinator at the United Nations; Rutger van Marissing, senior policy officer at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Jason Healey, Atlantic Council senior fellow and senior research fellow at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

For interviews or more information about the report, please email press@atlanticcouncil.org

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