CYBER SECURITY REGIMES AND THE VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW IN THE CONTEXT OF PEGASUS CONTROVERSY

Abstract

The right to privacy has been articulated in all major international and regional human rights legislations including United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. The right to privacy protects individuals against arbitrary and unjustified use of power by states and other institutions. However, this right is subject to violations for centuries through conventional and unconventional means of surveillance by governments and other agencies on an international scale. Recently, The Pegasus controversy has wreaked havoc in the international community. This infringement of right to privacy has produced dire consequences for both individuals and governments with a threat to destabilize the whole economic and social systems of the world. Unfortunately, there is no legal framework in international law to handle such cyber-attacks against civilians and governments. The present study discusses, by adopting through doctrinal and empirical approaches, the significant challenges to privacy with reference to the misuse of Pegasus spyware by the governments. The study highlights the necessity of an international legal framework to address the issues of cyber-attacks. Powerful institutions of different governments do often abuse laws by finding loopholes in international as well as their respective municipal laws to invade the privacy of individuals.