Cyber Initiative

The cyber initiative is a cross-disciplinary project between Yale Law School and Yale University’s Department of Computer Science focused on legal and technical aspects of cyber conflict, as well as other legal challenges pertaining to cybersecurity. The goal of the initiative is to bridge the disciplinary divide between lawyers, technologists, and policymakers, in a space that rarely involved a cross-disciplinary discourse. To achieve its goal, the cyber initiative has thus far facilitated the “Yale Cyber Leadership Forum,” bringing together business, cybersecurity, and policy professionals to assess the current threats, solutions, and future trajectory of cybersecurity. In addition, conferences at the law school on “Hacking the Election” and “Weaponizing Information,” enabled students to be involved as rapporteurs and follow-up op-ed authors on topics raised by the panelists. The cyber initiative also hosted leading speakers on a variety of cybersecurity related topics, and created a course for law and computer science students (Fall 2016), on the “Law & Technology of Cyber Conflict.”

Watch videos from our conferences:
Weaponizing Information, Part 1 and Part 2
Hacking the Election, Part 1 and Part 2

See more about our past events.

Ram Sachs, Hacking the Election, Yale Journal of International Law Forum (Oct 28, 2016)

Isabella Uria, Hacking the Election Conference (post-conference report)

John Ehrett, Confronting Disinformation Warfare, Yale Journal of Law and Technology Blog (Apr. 18, 2017)

The Forum was held at Yale University on March 30, 2017 to April 1, 2017, organized by the Yale Center for Global Legal Challenges and the Yale Office of International Affairs, with knowledge partner McKinsey & Company, who collaborated on the first-ever Yale Cyber Leadership Forum. Integrating McKinsey’s extensive knowledge of best practices in cybersecurity with Yale’s scholarly expertise, the Forum focused on bridging the divide between law, technology and business in cybersecurity, and exposed participants to effective approaches to recognizing, preparing for, preventing, and responding to cyber threats. The Forum director is Oona A. Hathaway, Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law and founder and director of the Center for Global Legal Challenges at Yale Law School.

Doxfare – Politically Motivated Leaks and the Future of the Norm on Non-Intervention in the Era of Weaponized Information, 9 Harv. Nat’l. Sec. J. (Forthcoming Fall 2017)

World Wide Web of Exploitations: The Case of Peacetime Cyber Espionage Operations Under International Law: Towards a Contextual Approach, 18 Columb. Sci. & Tech. L. Rev. 42 (2017).

Virtual Violence – Disruptive Cyberspace Operations as "Attacks" under International Humanitarian Law, 22 Mich. Telecomm. & Tech. L. Rev. 113 (2017).

ICRC, NATO and the U.S. – Direct Participation in “Hacktivities” – Targeting Private Contractors in Cyberspace under the Law of Armed Conflict, 15 Duke L. & Tech. Rev. 1 (2016).