Timely Commentary & Analysis

Notes from the field and analysis from the Cyber Statecraft Initiative team—insights to give you practical leverage on the complex challenges of cybersecurity.

Featured commentary and analysis

Timely Commentary & Analysis

Capacity Building Initiative Jan 13, 2020

Cyber 9/12: Education and innovation on a global scale

By Will Loomis

One of the most important barriers to robust global cybersecurity is the shortage of capable individuals in the workforce pipeline. By 2021, predictions suggest that the world will have more than 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs, with both the private and public sectors facing hiring shortages. While the United States has budding international relations, cybersecurity, and IT-focused academic programs, very little has been done to address the interaction between them, which will be crucial for the success of future cybersecurity professionals.
Cybersecurity
Timely Commentary & Analysis

Conflict, Risk, and Tech Oct 28, 2019

The zero-day war? How cyber is reshaping the future of the most combustible conflicts

By Simon Handler

Conventional wisdom would suggest that scaled-up capabilities, growing competition, and the proliferation of malware across cyberspace presents a legitimate risk of escalation in state conflict, transcending the cyber domain toward the kinetic. However, recent history has shown that states have more often availed themselves of their offensive cyber arsenals to achieve surprisingly de-escalatory effects.
Cybersecurity Iran
Timely Commentary & Analysis

New Atlanticist Oct 9, 2019

How governments can use cyber tools irresponsibly to preserve power

By Safa Shahwan

The Kazakh case serves as an example of irresponsible cyber statecraft, when governments use cyberspace and technological tools to achieve specific political goals, placing the rights of citizens, as well as their political legitimacy, on the line.

Central Asia Cybersecurity

All timely commentary & analysis

Event Recap

Dec 10, 2015

Cybersecurity experts cautiously optimistic about 2016

By Malena Carollo

It's been an active year in cybersecurity. Washington and Beijing reached a historic agreement around cooperation for curtailing digital espionage, the US government suffered its largest known data breach, and there was a seemingly endless string of breaches and hacks. Looking ahead to 2016, there's little indication from experts that online threats will be any less numerous or menacing.

Cybersecurity

Event Recap

Nov 10, 2015

National Security and the Cyber Threat Landscape

By Andrew Alvarado

At a talk hosted at the Atlantic Council on November 10, 2015, the Hon. John Carlin, Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the US Department of Justice, discussed the current national security threat landscape and recent trends in the US government's approach to disrupting cyber threats. The discussion was moderated by Benjamin Wittes, Editor in Chief at Lawfare.

Cybersecurity

Cyber Risk Wednesdays

Oct 15, 2015

Overcome by Cyber Risks?

By Brent Scowcroft Center

Newspaper headlines inundate us with stories about massive data breaches, disruptive cyberattacks, and espionage against government agencies and companies. With risks mounting, a new Atlantic Council report Overcome by Cyber Risks? Economic Benefits and Costs of Alternate Cyber Futures, published in collaboration with Zurich Insurance Group and University of Denver’s Pardee Center for International Futures,uses […]

Cybersecurity

Event Recap

Oct 5, 2015

What to expect from the US-China dyber deal?

By Atlantic Council

What to Expect from the US-China Cyber Deal? with Jason Healey Senior Fellow, Cyber Statecraft Initiative, Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security Atlantic Council James Mulvenon Deputy Director of Advanced Analysis DGI’s Center for Intelligence Research and Analysis Adam Segal Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow for China Studies and Director of the Digital and Cyberspace Policy […]

Cybersecurity

Event Recap

Aug 19, 2015

US retaliation for OPM hack could set precedent in global cyberconflict

By Malena Carollo

After the recent string of high-profile breaches such as the one at the Office of Personnel Management, many experts and international policymakers are watching closely at how the US may retaliate against suspected hackers. When it comes to digital spying, international norms are noticeably absent; there’s little precedent for how nations should retaliate to each […]

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

Event Recap

Jul 31, 2015

Should the US engage in espionage for economic gain?

By Malena Carollo

Economic espionage is common across the world: Many countries use their intelligence apparatus to steal foreign trade secrets for the benefit of their own private sectors. The US, however, publicly opposes this kind of spying for economic gain on moral grounds and insists it does not participate. Should it? A panel of cybersecurity and legal […]

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

Event Recap

Jun 19, 2015

What Does it Mean to ‘Win’ a Cyberwar?

By CSM Passcode

What we learned from an Atlantic Council event discussing the dynamics of global cyberconflict. Even as countries build up digital defense networks and train armies of hackers, the nature of cyberconflict remains little understood. There isn’t even a firm grasp on what it means to fight – let alone win – a cyberwar. That was […]

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

Event Recap

May 22, 2015

Will our future Internet be paradise or dystopia?

By CSM Passcode

What we learned from an Atlantic Council event discussing digital trends and possible scenarios for the world’s online future. What does the perfect Internet look like? The paradisiacal vision of its future – a scenario Atlantic Council senior fellow Jason Healey calls “Cyber Shangri La” – is one in which the dreams of Silicon Valley […]

Event Recap

Apr 9, 2015

The Future of Iranian Cyber Threat

Iran could more aggressively undermine US allies through “cyber attacks, subversion, and terrorism” once its has a nuclear deal and international sanctions are lifted, retired Gen James L. Jones, Jr., said April 8.

Cybersecurity Iran

Cyber Risk Wednesdays

Mar 19, 2015

Cyber risk Wednesday: Rewards and risks of the healthcare Internet of Things

By Cyber Statecraft Initiative

In order to examine the balance of the security challenges and societal opportunities of networked healthcare devices, on March 18, 2015 the Atlantic Council's Cyber Statecraft Initiative gathered a group of experts for a panel discussion and an accompanied report release. Jason Healey, Director of the Cyber Statecraft Initiative, moderated the discussion between Pat Calhoun, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Network Safety at McAfee, Suzanne B. Schwartz, Director of Emergency Preparedness, Operations, and Medical Countermeasures at US Food and Drug Administration, and Joshua Corman, Chief Technology Officer at Sonatype.

Cybersecurity Internet
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The Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative, part of the Atlantic Council Technology Programs, works at the nexus of geopolitics and cybersecurity to craft strategies to help shape the conduct of statecraft and to better inform and secure users of technology.

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