Recent analysis

Mythical Beasts and where to find them: Mapping the global spyware market and its threats to national security and human rights

Report Jun 25, 2025

Crash (exploit) and burn: Securing the offensive cyber supply chain to counter China in cyberspace 

By Winnona DeSombre Bernsen

If the United States wishes to compete in cyberspace, it must compete against China to secure its offensive cyber supply chain.
China Cybersecurity
Mythical Beasts and where to find them: Mapping the global spyware market and its threats to national security and human rights

New Atlanticist Jun 5, 2025

Cyberattacks are hurting US businesses. Here’s how Congress can upgrade cybersecurity information sharing.

By Tanner Wilburn, Sara Ann Brackett, and Urmita Chowdhury

Hackers are targeting small and medium-sized businesses, and the existing framework for sharing important information is leaving these US companies out of the loop.
Cybersecurity Economy & Business
Mythical Beasts and where to find them: Mapping the global spyware market and its threats to national security and human rights

Russia Tomorrow May 20, 2025

Unpacking Russia’s cyber nesting doll

By Justin Sherman

The latest report in the Atlantic Council’s Russia Tomorrow series explores Russia’s wartime cyber operations and broader cyber web.
Cybersecurity Digital Policy

Programs

The Atlantic Council Technology Programs comprises five existing efforts—the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), the GeoTech Center, the Cyber Statecraft Initiative, the Democracy + Tech Initiative, and the Capacity Building Initiative. These operations work together to address the geopolitical implications of technology and provide policymakers and global stakeholders necessary research, insights, and convenings to address challenges around global technology and ensure its responsible advancement.

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Content

Report

Sep 4, 2024

Mythical Beasts and where to find them: Mapping the global spyware market and its threats to national security and human rights

By Jen Roberts, Trey Herr, Nitansha Bansal, and Nancy Messieh, with Emma Taylor, Jean Le Roux, and Sopo Gelava

The Mythical Beasts project pulls back the curtain on the connections between 435 entities across forty-two countries in the global spyware market.

Cybersecurity

Conflict, Risk, and Tech

Sep 4, 2024

Mythical Beasts and where to find them: Data and methodology

By Jen Roberts, Trey Herr, Nitansha Bansal, and Nancy Messieh, with Emma Taylor, Jean Le Roux, and Sopo Gelava

Learn more about the methodology and dataset behind Mythical Beasts and where to find them: Mapping the global spyware market and its threats to national security and human rights

Cybersecurity

Report

Sep 4, 2024

Mythical Beasts and where to find them

By Jen Roberts, Trey Herr, Nitansha Bansal, and Nancy Messieh, with Emma Taylor, Jean Le Roux, and Sopo Gelava

Mythical Beasts and Where to Find Them: Mapping the Global Spyware Market and its Threats to National Security and Human Rights is concerned with the commercial market for spyware and provides data on market participants.

Cybersecurity

In the News

Aug 21, 2024

McCue co-authors chapter in edited volume on US and Indian approaches to nuclear security challenges

By Atlantic Council

On August 13, 2024, Forward Defense Visiting Senior Fellow Lieutenant Colonel James McCue co-authored a chapter in a new book published by Springer titled The Challenges of Nuclear Security: U.S. and Indian Perspectives.

Arms Control Crisis Management

Issue Brief

Aug 19, 2024

AI in cyber and software security:  What’s driving opportunities and risks?

By Maia Hamin, Jennifer Lin, Trey Herr

This issue brief discusses the drivers of evolving risks and opportunities presented by generative artificial intelligence (GAI), particularly in cybersecurity, while acknowledging the broader implications for policymakers and for national security.

Artificial Intelligence Cybersecurity

GeoTech Cues

Aug 6, 2024

The Great IT Outage of 2024 is a wake-up call about digital public infrastructure

By Saba Weatherspoon and Zhenwei Gao

The July 19 outage serves as a symbolic outcry for solution-oriented policies and accountability to stave off future disruptions.

Cybersecurity Internet

Issue Brief

Jul 29, 2024

Russia’s digital tech isolationism: Domestic innovation, digital fragmentation, and the Kremlin’s push to replace Western digital technology

By Justin Sherman

Russia’s technological isolation is both a reality and a desired goal for Moscow. This piece explores the impacts of this phenomenon and offers recommendations for how to deal with that evolving digital ecosystem.

Cybersecurity Internet

Issue Brief

Jul 24, 2024

OT cyber policy: The Titanic or the iceberg

By Danielle Jablanski

Current policy does not address the issue of cyber-physical security with a systemic approach, instead focusing with tunnel vision on specific events. This analysis uses the iceberg model for systems thinking to address policy gaps in the OT ecosystem, detailing recommendations for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Cybersecurity

UkraineAlert

Jul 18, 2024

Ukraine’s drone success offers a blueprint for cybersecurity strategy

By Anatoly Motkin

Ukraine's rapidly expanding domestic drone industry offers a potentially appealing blueprint for the development of the country's cybersecurity capabilities, writes Anatoly Motkin.

Conflict Cybersecurity
Taiwan's landmark building Taipei 101

Report

Jul 2, 2024

Strengthening Taiwan’s resiliency

By Franklin D. Kramer, Philip W. Yu, Joseph Webster, Elizabeth Sizeland

Resilience is a nation’s ability to understand, address, respond to, and recover from any type of national security risk. Given the scale of risk Taiwan faces from mainland China, domestic resilience should be front and center in Taiwan’s national security strategy, encompassing areas such as cybersecurity, energy security, and defense resilience.

China Crisis Management
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Experts

Fellow

Andrea Rigoni

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Transatlantic Security Initiative

Cybersecurity Digital Policy

Fellow

Trevor H. Rudolph

Nonresident Senior Fellow

GeoTech Center

Cybersecurity Europe & Eurasia

Staff

Audrey Roh

Program Assistant

Indo-Pacific Security Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Cybersecurity Japan

Fellow

Yasmine Abdillahi

Nonresident Fellow

Africa Center

Africa Cybersecurity

Fellow

Chinmayi Sharma

Nonresident Fellow

Cyber Statecraft Initiative

Cybersecurity Digital Policy

Staff

Urmita Chowdhury

Assistant Director, Trainings and Competitions

Cyber Statecraft Initiative

Bengali Cybersecurity
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