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21. The Influence of Commercial Space Capabilities on Deterrence

Author:
John Klein
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for a New American Security
Abstract:
Recent U.S. space policy initiatives underscore the far-reaching benefits of commercial space activities. The White House revived the National Space Council to foster closer coordination, cooperation, and exchange of technology and information among the civil, national security, and commercial space sectors.1 National Space Policy Directive 2 seeks to promote economic growth by streamlining U.S. regulations on the commercial use of space.2 While the defense community generally appreciates the value of services and capabilities derived from the commercial space sector—including space launch, Earth observation, and satellite communications—it often overlooks one area of strategic importance: deterrence.
Topic:
International Cooperation, International Affairs, and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

22. Cyber Space and International Law as a 21st Century Paradox | 21. Yüzyıl Paradoksu Olarak Siber Uzay ve Uluslararası Hukuk

Author:
Vahit Güntay
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Novus Orbis: Journal of Politics & International Relations
Institution:
Department of International Relations, Karadeniz Technical University
Abstract:
The studies in the base of international relations and security have revealed a different research subject with the developments of technology. Cybersecurity that is in the focus of the technical area has also been argued in the political base. The cyber dimension of security with discussing concepts like cyber politics, cyber deterrence or cyberwar has succeeded to remain on the agenda of states. As a central actor of the international system, states’ interest in cybersecurity has carried this subject to the international law research area. In this study, the historical process and theoretical approach have been evaluated in the base of international relations discipline and it is practised to detail problems about international law. Different data have also supported the approach to the core of this study. | Uluslararası ilişkiler ve güvenlik temelindeki çalışmalar teknolojik gelişmelerle birlikte farklı bir araştırma konusunu karşımıza çıkarmıştır. Teknik bir alanın ilgi odağında olan siber güvenlik politik bir temelde de tartışılmaya başlanmıştır. Siber politikalar, siber caydırıcılık ya da siber savaş gibi isimlerle tartışılmaya başlanan güvenliğin siber boyutu devletlerin de siyasi ajandalarına girmeyi başarmıştır. Uluslararası aktörlerin merkezinde olan devletlerin ilgisi siber güvenliği uluslararası hukukun inceleme alanına taşımıştır. Bu çalışma dahilinde siber güvenliğe ilişkin tarihsel süreç ve teorik yaklaşım uluslararası ilişkiler disiplini temelinde ele alınmış ve uluslararası hukuka dair sorunlar detaylandırılmaya çalışılmıştır. Çalışmanın özüne dair yaklaşım farklı verilerle de desteklenmiştir.
Topic:
International Relations, Crime, International Law, and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

23. Is Use of Cyber-Based Technology in Humanitarian Operations Leading to the Reduction of Humanitarian Independence?

Author:
Martin Stanley Searle
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS)
Abstract:
Technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) are being tested and adopted at a significant rate in humanitarian emergency response. However, the crossing of physical, biological, and cyber domains that characterises these technologies threatens the independence of humanitarian organisations. This is occurring in an environment in which the value and purpose of independence is already seriously questioned, both in practice, and in principle. This paper argues that the loss of independence stems from two related trends. First, several 4IR technologies are improving the capacity of humanitarian organisations to gather, synthesise, and analyse data, resulting in the production of information of increasingly strategic, political or military value. Second, the cyber component of these technologies simultaneously renders that information more vulnerable to unauthorised access by third parties with relevant political, military or economic agendas. This parallels the “capability/ vulnerability paradox” identified in literature discussing cybersecurity in relation to the military or so-called “smart cities”. In conflict and disaster settings, this paradox increases the likelihood of humanitarian actors functioning as appendages of other organisations. This loss of independence potentially has operational implications relating to access, and material impact on the ongoing debate around the importance of independence in humanitarian work.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Cybersecurity, Humanitarian Intervention, and Independence
Political Geography:
Global Focus

24. Rethinking Cybersecurity Strategy, Mass Effect, and States

Author:
James Andrew Lewis
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
Despite all the attention, cyberspace is far from secure. Why this is so reflects conceptual weaknesses as much as imperfect technologies. Two questions highlight shortcomings in the discussion of cybersecurity. The first is why, after more than two decades, we have not seen anything like a cyber Pearl Harbor, cyber 9/11, or cyber catastrophe, despite constant warnings. The second is why, despite the increasing quantity of recommendations, there has been so little improvement, even when these recommendations are implemented. These questions share an answer: the concepts underlying cybersecurity are an aggregation of ideas conceived in a different time, based on millennial expectations about governance and international security. Similarly, the internet of the 1990s has become “cyber,” a portmanteau term that encompassed the broad range of global economic, political, and military activities transformed by the revolution created by digital technologies. If our perceptions of the nature of cybersecurity are skewed, so are our defenses. This report examines the accuracy of our perceptions of cybersecurity. It attempts to embed the problem of cyber attack (not crime or espionage) in the context of larger strategic calculations and effects. It argues that policies and perceptions of cybersecurity are determined by factors external to cyberspace, such as political trends affecting relations among states, by thinking on the role of government, and by public attitudes toward risk. We can begin to approach the problem of cybersecurity by defining attack. While public usage calls every malicious action in cyberspace an attack, it is more accurate to define attacks as those actions using cyber techniques or tools for violence or coercion to achieve political effect. This places espionage and crime in a separate discussion (while noting that some states use crime for political ends and rampant espionage creates a deep sense of concern among states). Cyber attack does not threaten crippling surprise or existential risk. This means that the incentives for improvement that might motivate governments and companies are, in fact, much smaller than we assume. Nor is cyber attack random and unpredictable. It reflects national policies for coercion and crime. Grounding policy in a more objective appreciation of risk and intent is a first step toward better security.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Governance, Cybersecurity, and Digital Economy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

25. "Mind Hacking": Information Warfare in the Cyber Age

Author:
Fabio Rugge
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI)
Abstract:
The good old days of cold war disinformatia are gone. Social media are increasingly relevant in shaping the public opinion, but they are just “eco chambers”. Foreign actors with malicious intent can easily exploit this intrinsic feature of social media manipulating online information in order to influence the public opinion. Moreover, cyberspace allows a large degree of anonymity, behind which it is easy to automate propaganda, and cyber attacks may be leveraged to exfiltrate and expose sensitive content or to gain information dominance during military operations, increasing the strategic relevance of the “information space”. Operations in this domain are central in Russia’s security strategic thinking, featuring predominantly in its “New Generation War” military doctrine. But the ongoing militarization of cyberspace risks having dangerous spillovers in the conventional domain. What can we do in order to protect our open democracies while preserving a global, free and resilient Internet? The answer is multi-faceted, in as much as CEIW (cyber-enabled information warfare) is an emerging asymmetric threat that forces us to innovate our security approach in many ways.
Topic:
Security, Science and Technology, Cybersecurity, and Social Media
Political Geography:
Russia and Global Focus

26. Missing Figures: The Cybersecurity Gender Gap

Author:
Spencer Beall
Publication Date:
02-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Women In International Security (WIIS)
Abstract:
While the cybersecurity industry will require approximately six million workers to meet its projected job demand by 2019, many positions will remain unfilled without more female cybersecurity professionals. Currently, women comprise only 11 percent of global cybersecurity professionals. Women’s underrepresentation in cybersecurity is not just an economic workplace issue, but also has a profound impact on the type of technologies being developed and hence impacts everyone in the digital age. The report will explore some of the main barriers that impede women’s entry, professional advancement, and retention in cybersecurity, including the pervasive gender discrimination in technology professions. Next, I will examine three core reasons why it is essential to get more women in cybersecurity, namely (1) to maximize innovation potential; (2)to expand usability of digital products to meet the needs of all consumers; and (3) to strengthen the global economy by fulfilling the cybersecurity industry’s rapidly growing job demand. Recommendations on how to dismantle the gender gap in cybersecurity and how to create in the digital age a global workforce that is safer, more efficient, and more prosperous are presented.
Topic:
Gender Issues, International Security, Women, and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

27. Cyber-diplomacy: the making of an international society in the digital age

Author:
Andre Barrinha
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
EGMONT - The Royal Institute for International Relations
Abstract:
Cyberspace has become a major locus and focus of international relations. Most global powers have now streamlined cyber issues into their foreign policies, adopting cyber strategies, and appointing designated diplomats to pursue these strategic objectives. This article proposes to explore the concept of cyber-diplomacy, by analysing its evolution and linking it to the broader discussions of diplomacy as a fundamental institution of international society, as defined by the English School of International Relations. It argues that cyber-diplomacy is an emerging international practice that is attempting to construct a cyber-international society, bridging the national interests of states with world society dynamics – the predominant realm in which cyberspace has evolved in the last four decades.
Topic:
International Affairs and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

28. Confronting an “Axis of Cyber”? China, Iran, North Korea, Russia in Cyberspace

Author:
Fabio Rugge
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI)
Abstract:
The year 2018 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Morris worm, the first malware ever released in the Internet. Thirty years later, technological innovations have dramatically increased the importance of the Internet in virtually every economic, social and political endeavor, tremendously expanding the potential “surface” of cyber attacks. The cyber domain makes it possible to gather privileged information, disrupt industrial processes, create havoc by targeting, for instance, ICT supporting critical infrastructures, and to launch cyber-enabled information warfare campaigns against largely unaware foreign target audiences. Cyberspace, in sum, allows states to achieve strategic results with campaigns that fall below the threshold of the “use of force”, while offering an unprecedented level of plausible deniability, as the real perpetrator of a cyber attack is always difficult to identify with certainty. And yet, this is only the beginning: we are in the midst of a digital revolution. By 2025, with the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), the cyber domain will connect more than 75 billion devices, many of which will control key functions of our daily lives and most of our critical infrastructures.
Topic:
International Affairs and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

29. Developing a Holistic Exposure and Adaptation Testing (HEAT) Process for Election Management Bodies

Author:
Katherine Ellena and Goran Petrov
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Foundation for Electoral Systems
Abstract:
In a new publication, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) outlines strategies for election management bodies (EMBs) to strengthen their technology and procedures to resist vulnerabilities, by following what we have termed a Holistic Exposure and Adaptation Testing (HEAT) process. While no electoral process or technology is infallible, the HEAT process aims to secure automated or digitalized electoral processes – as far as possible – against unanticipated threats, illicit incursions, system failures, or unfounded legal challenges. As the name suggests, the HEAT process focuses on the types of exposure an EMB may face when implementing different types of technology systems (technology, human, political, legal and procedural exposure). This process encourages a more holistic assessment of what could go wrong in data and technology management and allows the EMB to identify strategies to reduce or eliminate different types of exposure in a systematic manner. Because the HEAT process seeks to provide a holistic approach to cybersecurity in elections, we have drawn lessons from international principles, election cybersecurity case studies, risk-mitigation methodologies and technology-related election court judgments. The proposed process is also guided by international best practices on data management and cybersecurity, as well as transparency, open data and privacy.
Topic:
Security, Science and Technology, Elections, and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

30. Increasing International Cooperation in Cybersecurity and Adapting Cyber Norms

Author:
Elena Chernenko, Oleg Demidov, and Fyodor Lukyanov
Publication Date:
02-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
nformation and communications technology (ICT) presents one of the most critical modern challenges to global security. Threat assessments predict that the next major international crisis could be due to a state or terrorist group weaponizing ICTs to devastate critical infrastructure or military logistics networks. The proliferation of asymmetric warfare (i.e., conflicts between nations or groups that have disparate military capabilities) has increased states’ use of ICTs, which necessitates the development of an international code of cyber conduct. There is an urgent need for cooperation among states to mitigate threats such as cybercrime, cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, electronic espionage, bulk data interception, and offensive operations intended to project power by the application of force in and through cyberspace. Emerging cyber threats could precipitate massive economic and societal damage, and international efforts need to be recalibrated to account for this new reality. A common misperception is that the principal cybersecurity threats demanding urgent international collaboration are massive, state sponsored attacks that target critical infrastructure such as power plants or electrical grids, causing massive devastation and human casualties. In fact, cyber threats are more diverse and complex, often targeting private enterprises and endangering the technical integrity of the digital world. The near-total digitalization of business models makes the global economy more vulnerable to cyberattacks, not only from states but also from criminal organizations and other nonstate actors.
Topic:
Security, International Cooperation, Infrastructure, and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:
Global Focus