Maintaining peace and security in cyberspace: Multilateral approach of the United Nations on advancing responsible state behaviour in cyberspace

Abstract

The international community has concerned about the malicious development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) that threatens international peace and security. This issue emerged since the same technology that supports our daily activities could also be used to conduct military hostilities. Such cases of DDoS attacks in Estonia and Stuxnet in Iran could provide a full illustration. Apart from the scholarly attention to this emerging issue, the research that particularly assesses the United Nations as the organization to preserve the current state of international peace and security is still lacking. Henceforth, this research will focus on evaluating how the UN has reacted to the malicious development of ICT in the context of international security and whether it has effectively established a new regime to regulate States in this hostile activity. This research will benefit from detailed and critical examination using a documentary and archival analysis as well as critical discourse analysis. To elaborate on numerous notions and measures taken by the UN and provide a noteworthy discussion, this research will borrow transdisciplinary approaches ranging from international politics to international law. Through evaluation, this research found that the UN has put a concerted effort to...