ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the 2007 cyber attacks against Estonia to demonstrate that an informational approach offers a means by which to overcome the law’s ontological constraints that limit its capacity to recognize non-material cyber attacks as a form of violence. It demonstrates how the law’s limited conception of violence is evident in the orthodox interpretation of the law on the use of force and its application to the incident. The chapter provides an informational approach, considers Estonia as an information entity that was subject to cyber attacks causing entropy. The cyber attacks that occurred in the immediate aftermath of the real-world protests and riots made use of relatively simple methods compared with the more sophisticated attacks that began to emerge on 30 April. The chapter shows how the limited conception of violence embodied in Article 2(4) undermines its capacity to adequately recognize the harm caused by the cyber attacks against Estonia.
