Mike Schmitt has been active with other members of the international law community in researching the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic is being maliciously exploited by states and nonstate actors in cyberspace.
In April 2020, he presented on the international law implications of the pandemic in cyberspace during a virtual global workshop sponsored by the Cyber Peace Institute, where he sits on the Advisory Board. The following month, he was one of over 30 international leading international law scholars and practitioners who issued the " on the International Law Protections against Cyber Operations Targeting the Health Care Sector".
In May, he joined former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Nobel Prize recipients Desmond Tutu and Mohamed ElBaradei, former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer, Microsoft President Brad Smith, former President of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo and 35 other global leaders in to work together to stop cyber attacks hampering hospitals and international organizations fighting COVID-19.
In collaboration with Professor Marko Milanovic from the University of Nottingham, he co-authored a major study on 'Cyber "Attacks" and Cyber (Mis)information Operations during a Pandemic'. The study examines how hostile cyber operations during a health crisis can violate the international law rules requiring respect for the sovereignty of other states, prohibiting intervention and the use of force in international relations, and obligating states to exercise due diligence in ensuring their territory is not used as the base for such cyber operations.
Additionally, in the article, Mike and Professor Milanovic take a deep dive into COVID-19 related human rights rules that bar certain cyber operations placing individuals at risk, as well as the obligation of governments to protect those on its territory from such operations. Their work is forthcoming in a special edition of the Journal of National Security Law and Policy, a