Skip to ContentSkip to Navigation
About us Faculty of Law Research Scholarships, prizes and subsidies Personal grants

Attribution of cyber operations

‘One must repair the roof when the sun is shining’: Research into legal attribution of cyber operations to states in anticipation of the rain of digital attacks against the Netherlands in general and the Northern Netherlands in particular.

Evgeni Moyakine’s research/education project ‘One must repair the roof when the sun is shining’ was financed by the Groningen University Fund. The aim was to involve students from the Faculty of Law in the research of the IT law section and to reduce the gap between Dutch and international students. The project also aimed to generate, apply and further develop new knowledge and insights regarding the attribution of offensive cyber operations to states and their dissemination in order to increase the digital security of the region and the Netherlands.

The research group consisted of one principal investigator/supervisor and eight Dutch and foreign students: one student assistant, four Master's students and three Bachelor's students. The students and their supervisor conducted legal-empirical research into, among other things, the circumstances under which and the manner in which cyber operations carried out against the (Northern) Netherlands can be attributed to states and the legal consequences of this attribution.

Legal papers were written by the group to answer important research questions. The articles for which the students could earn 6 ECTS points were provided with extensive feedback, discussed, presented in the Netherlands and abroad and assessed. At the beginning of March 2023, a study trip took place to Israel, the country that is considered a leading player on the world stage of cybersecurity. A specialized workshop was held there at the Center for Cyber ​​Law & Policy of the University of Haifa at which the group's preliminary research results were shared with Israeli experts and students. At the end of March 2023, the final workshop was organized in the beautiful Mennonite church in Groningen in collaboration with the Jantina Tammes School. At this event, the group presented its final research results and discussed them with academics, cyber specialists and representatives of the Dutch government who were present both physically and online.

Duration of the project

2022 - 2023

Awarded grant

13,518 euros, obtained from the Gratama Foundation

Contact person at our Faculty

Dr. E.V. (Evgeni) Moyakine

Website with additional information

Last modified:08 July 2024 2.54 p.m.
View this page in: Nederlands