‘Common Law’: Calling Out Cyberattacks

Nations should be more transparent and provide evidence when attributing cyberattacks to other states, says Professor Kristen Eichensehr on the latest episode of “Common Law,” a podcast of the University of Virginia School of Law.

Eichensehr, director of the Law School’s National Security Law Center and a Martha Lubin Karsh and Bruce A. Karsh Bicentennial Professor of Law, is an expert in cybersecurity, foreign relations, international law and national security law.

She joins the show to discuss her Lawfare article “Cyberattack Attribution as Empowerment and Constraint” and her paper “The Law & Politics of Cyberattack Attribution,” in which she proposes legal standards for publicly attributing cyberattacks to nations.

“[S]tates should establish an international law requirement that public attributions must include sufficient evidence to enable crosschecking or corroboration of the accusations,” she writes in the UCLA Law Review article. “Moreover, setting a clear evidentiary standard for cyberattack attribution has the potential to clarify currently unsettled general international law rules on evidence.”

Hosted by Dean Risa Goluboff and UVA Law professor Danielle K. Citron, director of the school’s LawTech Center, the scholars also explore how attributions evolved over the past decade, the role of private actors in exposing hacks, and cyber espionage.

This season, called “Co-Counsel” features a rotating set of co-hosts: Citron, John C. Harrison, Cathy Hwang and Gregory Mitchell. Each is joining Goluboff to discuss cutting-edge research on law topics of their choice.

“Common Law” is available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, YouTube, Spotify and other popular places you can listen to podcasts. The show is produced by Emily Richardson-Lorente.

Past seasons have focused on “The Future of Law,” “When Law Changed the World” and “Law and Equity.”

You can follow the show on the website CommonLawPodcast.com or Twitter at @CommonLawUVA.