Peacetime espionage describes the state-sponsored theft of confidential information for national security purposes and there are almost daily reports detailing states’ involvement in this activity. Rates of espionage have risen dramatically since the advent of cyberspace and the potential for cyber-enabled spying.

While states usually regulate espionage through national criminal law, the conventional wisdom among international lawyers is that ‘international law is silent on the subject of espionage’. According to this view, espionage is ‘neither legal nor illegal under international law’.

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