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41. Attribution of Malicious Cyber Incidents: From Soup to Nuts

Author:
Herbert Lin
Publication Date:
03-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Affairs
Institution:
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:
Attribution of malicious cyber activities is a deep issue about which confusion and disquiet can be found in abundance. Attribution has many aspects—technical, political, legal, policy, and so on. A number of well-researched and executed papers cover one or more of these aspects, but integration of these aspects is usually left as an exercise for the analyst. This paper distinguishes between attribution of malicious cyber activity to a machine, to a specific perpetrator (often a human being pressing the keys) initiating that activity, and to an adversary that is deemed ultimately responsible for that activity. Which type of attribution is relevant depends on the goals of the relevant decisionmaker. Further, attribution is a multi-dimensional issue that draws on all sources of information available, including technical forensics, human intelligence, signals intelligence, history, and geopolitics, among others. From the perspective of the victim, some degree of factual uncertainty attaches to any of these types of attribution, although the last type—attribution to an ultimately responsible party—also implicates to a very large degree legal, policy, and political questions. But from the perspective of the adversary, the ability to conceal its identity from the victim with high confidence is also uncertain. It is the very existence of such risk that underpins the possibility of deterring hostile actions in cyberspace.
Topic:
Security, Intelligence, Science and Technology, and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

42. A Non-State Strategy for Saving Cyberspace

Author:
Jason Healey
Publication Date:
03-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Affairs
Institution:
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:
America’s future, and that of other nations and peoples, will be most secure in the long term with an emphasis on future prosperity unlocked by the Internet. The Internet may have surpassed Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press as history’s most transformative invention because of how it has spawned parallel and simultaneous revolutions across other technologies. By making information so cheap to produce, compute, and share, the Internet enabled rapid advances in technologies as far afield as manufacturing and genetics. The problem is that there is no guarantee the future of the Internet, and the larger entirety of cyberspace, will be as rosy as its past. It is possible, even likely, that the Internet will not remain as resilient, free, secure, and awesome for future generations as it has been for ours. Imagine that twenty years after the invention of the printing press, the pope and the princes of Europe—in fact, anyone who had some basic skills and desire to do so—had the ability to determine exactly what was being printed, exactly who was printing it, and exactly to whom they were sending it. Worrying about intellectual property theft, privacy, or civil rights (had those concepts existed) would have missed the bigger picture. With no trust in the underlying communication medium, the future of Europe and the future of humanity would have been profoundly changed—not just for five years, but for 500. If the printing press was so easily compromised as computers are today, could there even have been a Renaissance or an Enlightenment? This amazing transformative technology, the Internet, is unsustainable unless we make sweeping changes. We are all becoming absolutely dependent on an unknowably complex system where threats are growing far faster than the Internet’s own defenses and resilience.
Topic:
Security, Science and Technology, Cybersecurity, and Internet
Political Geography:
Global Focus

43. Policy and the Internet of Things

Author:
Sean S. Costigan and Gustav Lindstrom
Publication Date:
03-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
Cybersecurity has steadily crept to the top of the national security agenda. Simultaneously, a merger of the physical and virtual worlds is noticeably underway. A confluence of technologies has come together to make this possible under the rubric known as the Internet of Things (IoT). This merger will bring sensors and computing devices totaling in the billions to connect objects together in a network that does not require human intervention, along with which will come much vaunted benefits, knowable risks, uncertainties and considerable security dilemmas. Using the past as a predictor of future behavior, a vast increase in hackable devices will create equally vast vulnerabilities that will now touch the physical world. Yet the IoT will also present opportunities that are just now being imagined, likely making the Internet revolution seem small by comparison. While technological growth often appears to outpace policy, government retains the power to convene and ultimately to regulate. This article examines why policymakers should care about the IoT, the significant trends for the next five to ten years, and likely security implications stemming from those trends. The article finalizes with an overview of policy considerations.
Topic:
Security, National Security, Cybersecurity, and Internet
Political Geography:
Global Focus

44. Cyberspace as the Environment Affected by Organized Crime Activity

Author:
Piotr Dela
Publication Date:
06-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
This article provides an overview of the main issues surrounding the use of cyberspace as the field on which information warfare is waged. It also investigates the role of organized criminal activities. The basic impact, place and role of recognition and counter-recognition in cyberspace are identified. The economic impact in terms of the level of development of cyberspace is also assessed.
Topic:
Crime, Cybersecurity, Information Age, and Organized Crime
Political Geography:
Global Focus

45. Medium-sized states in inter- national cyber security policies

Author:
Sico Van Der meer
Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Clingendael Netherlands Institute of International Relations
Abstract:
Some medium-sized states play varying, yet important roles in international cyber-security policies. In this policy brief author Sico van der Meer offers a concise overview of five medium-sized states with such a prominent position: Australia, Estonia, Israel, the Netherlands and South Korea. How did these states attain these positions, and what are the benefits and challenges? The analysis shows that these positions are not easy to acquire or to maintain. Whilst the will to continuously invest and to develop an integrated (whole-of-government) approach seems to be an obvious key requirement for success, cyber security as a policy area is very broad. Remaining in a lead position may require looking for ‘a niche within the niche’.
Topic:
Cybersecurity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

46. The Cyber Financial Wars on the Horizon

Author:
Juan Zarate
Publication Date:
07-2016
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Juan Zarate, with a foreword from Stewart Baker, looks forward to the future as cyberattacks and intrusions become increasingly common weapons in the ever-expanding toolkit of state and non-state actors.
Topic:
International Security and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

47. Risk Nexus: Overcome by cyber risks? Economic benefits and costs of alternate cyber futures

Publication Date:
09-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
In 2030, will the Internet and related information and communications technologies (ICTs) continue to drive global innovation and prosperity? Or will that bright promise be swamped by an unstable and insecure Internet, so overwhelmed by non-stop attacks that it has become an increasing drag on economic growth? The answers, as far as we can predict, are not promising and mean the difference in tens of trillions of dollars in global economic growth over the next fifteen years.
Topic:
Economics, Science and Technology, Communications, and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

48. Combatting Cyber Threats: CSIRTs and Fostering International Cooperation on Cybersecurity

Author:
Samantha Bradshaw
Publication Date:
12-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
This paper examines the role of computer security incident response teams (CSIRTs) in the emerging cyber regime complex and asks what might be driving the lack of trust and information sharing within the community. ThePow commercialization of cyber security and threat vulnerabilities, the Internet’s development as a new power domain, the growth of the CSIRT community and the emergence of a cyber regime complex are examined as factors that are giving rise to and exacerbating existing problems around information sharing and trust.
Topic:
National Security, Science and Technology, International Security, and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

49. Confidence Building in Cyberspace: A Comparison of Territorial and Weapons-Based Regimes

Author:
Dr. Mary Manjikian
Publication Date:
04-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College
Abstract:
An analysis of weapons-based confidence-building measures shows how academics can work together to self-police their research for national security implications, socialize new members of the academic community into the importance of considering security issues, and develop and disseminate norms regarding what is and is not a moral and ethical use of these technologies. It may be possible for academics and policymakers to come together to work for a ban or build-down on cyber weapons patterned on international efforts to ban chemical and biological weapons and implement export regimes to control the export of code which may form the components of cyber weapons. If we conceptualize cyberspace as territory, we can also learn from the example of territorially-based confidence-building measures such as those implemented along the Indo-Pakistan border. This approach stresses the importance of developing notification procedures to prevent misperceptions and the escalation spiral, as well as communicating regularly to establish trust between all parties. The case studies presented here illustrate the promises and pitfalls of each approach and offer valuable warnings to policymakers seeking to implement such measures in cyberspace. They show what happens when not everyone in a regime is equally committed to a specific outcome by illustrating the difficulties of monitoring compliance in confidence-building regimes, and show the ways in which doctrines and confidence-building measures may not be perfectly aligned.
Topic:
Security, National Security, Science and Technology, War, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:
United States and Global Focus

50. Full Issue: Emerging Domains of Security

Author:
Meg Guliford, Thomas McCarthy, Alison Russell, Michael M. Tsai, Po-Chang Huang, Feng-tai Hwang, Ian Easton, Matthew Testerman, Nikolas Ott, Anthony Gilgis, Todd Diamond, Michael Wackenreuter, Sebastian Bruns, Andrew Mark Spencer, Wendy A. Wayman, and Charles Cleveland
Publication Date:
09-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Fletcher Security Review
Institution:
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Abstract:
The theme of this special edition is “Emerging Domains of Security.” Coupled with previously unpublished work developed under a prior “Winning Without War” theme, the articles therein honor Professor Martel’s diverse, yet forward-leaning, research interests. This edition maintains the journal’s four traditional sections of policy, history, interviews, and current affairs. Our authors include established academics and practitioners as well as two Fletcher students, Nikolas Ott and Michael Wackenreuter. Each of the articles analyzes critical issues in the study and practice of international security, and our authors make salient arguments about an array of security-related issues. The articles are borne out of countless hours of work by FSR’s dedicated editorial staff. I deeply appreciate the time and effort they devoted to the publication of this volume. They are full-time graduate students who masterfully balanced a host of responsibilities.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Intelligence, International Cooperation, International Law, History, Military Affairs, Counter-terrorism, Cybersecurity, Navy, Conflict, Space, Interview, Army, Baath Party, and Norms
Political Geography:
China, Iraq, Europe, Middle East, Taiwan, Germany, Asia-Pacific, Global Focus, and United States of America