International Cybersecurity

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  • The Ukraine War and Dilemmas of Cybersecurity Governance – Part I

    The Ukraine War and Dilemmas of Cybersecurity Governance – Part I

    Mischa Hansel 05 December 2022 The Ukraine War has reiterated the urgency for addressing substantial peace and security risk of cyber operations. While there have not been any successful large-scale destructive cyberattacks thus far, the way in which cyber capabilities have been used by both state and non-state actors nevertheless has worrying implications. Existing dilemmas…

  • Regulating the Global Spyware Industry

    Regulating the Global Spyware Industry

    Mischa Hansel  17 November 2022 The growth of the global surveillance industry and the proliferation of access-as-a-service in particular has become a serious national security and human rights concern in recent years. For example, Pegasus software was allegedly used to target Hanan Elatr’s mobile phone, just months before her husband Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi…

  • Kick-off Workshop on “Zero Trust”

    Kick-off Workshop on “Zero Trust”

    For the official opening of the IFSH research focus “International Cybersecurity”, the team around project leader Dr Mischa Hansel organised an event titled “With Zero Trust to Global Trust? International Cybersecurity in Light of the SolarWinds Attack”. More than 50 representatives from science, business, diplomacy, politics and the media took part in the interdisciplinary workshop. After an opening…

  • Workshop on the Implementation of UN Cyber Norms

    Workshop on the Implementation of UN Cyber Norms

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    IFSH research focus International Cybersecurity recently held its second interdisciplinary workshop, focusing on which actors and procedures could advance the implementation of the UN norms of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace. The short presentations by Jacqueline Eggenschwiler (University of Oxford), Alexander Klimburg (Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace), Sheetal Kumar (Global Partners Digital) and Mischa Hansel (IFSH) shed…

  • Workshop on Promises and Pitfalls of a Global Cybercrime Convention

    Workshop on Promises and Pitfalls of a Global Cybercrime Convention

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    The harmful effects of cross-border criminal cyber-attacks were made abundantly clear as hospitals, energy providers, and other infrastructure services were indiscriminately hit or even directly targeted last year. Meanwhile, UN member states embarked on a new negotiation process with the goal of creating a global convention against the criminal misuse of information and communication technology.…

  • Workshop on the Cybersecurity Chapter of the German National Security Strategy

    Workshop on the Cybersecurity Chapter of the German National Security Strategy

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    End of June 2022 the ICS team conducted a workshop in cooperation with the Federal Foreign Office on cyber security within the framework of the dialogue processes on the German National Security Strategy. The hybrid event centred on four thematic blocks, each introduced by short keynote speeches followed by discussions, and was held under Chatham…

  • Workshop on Government Vulnerability Disclosure

    Workshop on Government Vulnerability Disclosure

    Vulnerabilities in hardware and software products are a gateway for cyber criminals, and state actors should thus be interested in promoting responsible disclosure and timely remediation. However, intelligence and security agencies also exploit vulnerabilities, sometimes holding vulnerabilities back or even actively seeking to acquire them. Thus, the role of state actors within the global vulnerability…

  • The Role of Cyber Operations in War – Part III: Cyber Operations and the Loss of Escalation Control

    The Role of Cyber Operations in War – Part III: Cyber Operations and the Loss of Escalation Control

    Mischa Hansel 21 June 2022 Other conflicts may not play-out as the Ukraine war has thus far in cyberspace. Attackers might be better prepared and more ready to use offensive cyber capacities, defenders on the other hand might well have less experience and fewer international allies. In this third part, I want to focus on…

  • The Role of Cyber Operations in War – Part II: (Cyber) History Does Not Repeat Itself

    The Role of Cyber Operations in War – Part II: (Cyber) History Does Not Repeat Itself

    Mischa Hansel 14 June 2022 Describing and understanding the puzzle are of course two different things, let alone deriving policy conclusions. In the second part of this post, I will argue that special, although not necessarily unique, strategic circumstances have contributed to the absence of more serious cyberattacks, particularly against critical infrastructures in the context…

  • The Role of Cyber Operations in War – Part I:What (Not) to Learn from the Ukrainian Case

    The Role of Cyber Operations in War – Part I:What (Not) to Learn from the Ukrainian Case

    Mischa Hansel 25 May 2022 In the three months since the initial Russian invasion of Ukraine, numerous articles on the military and strategic significance of cyber operations have been published. Most – but not all – assume we are faced with major puzzle: how come there have not been any large-scale disruptive cyberattacks against critical infrastructures in Ukraine and…

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