International community should follow example set by UNCLOS and establish governing regime to combat cybercrime

If members of the international community were able to develop a convention structured after UNCLOS, mandating international cooperation on cybersecurity and applying universal jurisdiction to acts of cyberaggression, the benefits would be palpable. One such benefit would be an opportunity to create a U.N. agency comparable to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) ²¹⁰ whose purpose would be to ensure the safety and security of the Internet.

The IMO was created pursuant to the adoption of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization,²¹¹ which entered into force in 1958. The purpose of the IMO as stated in Article 1(a) of the Convention is to facilitate cooperation among governments in order to ensure that the "highest practicable standards in matters concerning maritime safety" are in place. The IMO also maintains detailed records of all incidents of piracy,²¹³ which supports the IMO's policy recommendations and efforts to develop new law when the need arises.²¹⁴ One such legal instrument is Resolution A.738(18), which was intended to facilitate States' duties to cooperate in the repression of piracy under Article 100 of UNCLOS.²¹⁵ Generally, Resolution A.738(18) encouraged intergovernmental cooperation in all aspects of piracy prevention and solidified the IMO's antipiracy strategy. The IMO's "strategy consist[s] of compilation and distribution of periodical statistical reports, piracy seminars and field assessment missions to regions affected by piracy and the preparation of a code of practice for the investigation and prosecution of the crime of piracy."²¹⁶

An agency similar in function to the IMO dedicated to tracking incidents of cyberaggression and fostering cooperation between member nations would help to consolidate the international effort to monitor and deter cyberaggression. Moreover, such an agency would help to legitimize the international legal regime that created it, and would provide sound policy rooted in empirical evidence.