A pioneering legal resource created by international experts to help countries navigate complex questions of international law in cyberspace has earned a prestigious award.
The Cyber Law Toolkit project has received this year's Jus Gentium Award of the American Society of International Law (ASIL).
The Toolkit is helping nations to translate complex international legal principles into the cyber context, an area of increasing importance for national security and global policy.
The Jus Gentium Award recognizes outstanding online legal information initiatives which provide free, high-quality legal content to the international law community and the public.
The Cyber Law Toolkit is a cutting-edge, interactive key online resource. It is a collaborative project that involves six partner institutions: the Czech National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NÚKIB), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE), the University of Exeter, the U.S. Naval War College, United States, and Wuhan University, China.
Governments, military legal advisors, international organizations, and academics around the world regularly use the Toolkit as a trusted source for clarifying legal questions about cyber operations. In practice, officials consult it when formulating policy or rules of engagement for cyber activities, and educators use it as a teaching tool.
ASIL is a leading professional association in the field of international law. Its mission is to foster the study of international law and to promote international relations based on law and justice. The Society's global membership spans over 100 countries and includes attorneys, academics, judges, government officials, and students, reflecting its broad influence in the international law community.
The Toolkit provides practical guidance on how international law applies to cyber operations. It features a collection of over 30 hypothetical cyber scenarios inspired by real-world events, each accompanied by detailed legal analysis. Through these scenarios, it examines issues ranging from state-sponsored cyber operations and attacks on critical infrastructure to questions of sovereignty, use of force, and due diligence in cyberspace.
The Toolkit also hosts a growing database of official national positions on how international law applies in cyberspace. The content is continuously updated to reflect emerging state practice and expert commentary, ensuring the resource stays current with rapid developments in cyber law.
The recognition was formally announced at the ASIL Annual Meeting in Washington DC.
