Peeling Back the Onion of Cyber Espionage after Tallinn 2.0

David A. Wallace, Amy H. McCarthy, and Mark Visger

Tallinn 2.0 represents an important advancement in the under- standing of international law’s application to cyber operations be- low the threshold of force. Its provisions on cyber espionage will be instrumental to states in grappling with complex legal problems in the area of digital spying. The law of cyber espionage as out- lined by Tallinn 2.0, however, is substantially based on rules that have evolved outside of the digital context, and there exist serious ambiguities and limitations in its framework. This Article will ex- plore gaps in the legal structure and consider future options avail- able to states in light of this underlying mismatch.