The Active Cyber Defense Series
The different meanings of Active Cyber Defense
The term "active cyber defense" is confusing due to its use as a politically appealing and marketable phrase, which varies in meaning across different professional communities like military, cybersecurity, and law, as well as among different nations. This blog series aims to clarify these diverse interpretations and examine the specific actions encompassed by "active defense" to understand its role in enhancing security.
Matthias Schulze
Some Observations about the Cyber Conflict between Israel and Hamas
As in Ukraine, the current war in the Middle East is once again being accompanied by a digital conflict. After two months of war, it is now possible to draw some preliminary conclusions about cyber capabilities in the context of conventional ground wars. Including other conflicts such as in Ukraine 2022, Georgia 2008 or Kosovo 1998, an interesting continuity of the nature of digital conflict becomes apparent.
ChatGPT, Bing Search, Bard & Friends - Part III
While most have enjoyed playing around with the various “AI powered” toys (myself included!), there have also been a few headlines addressing the potential darker side of such systems, and not just them ‘going Terminator’ on users at times. But should we really be worried? Well, yes, no, maybe - and no, I’m not just trying to be annoying. There are different debates that need to take place, not least on risks TO the system vs those caused BY the system...
ChatGPT, Bing Search, Bard & Friends - Part II
As mentioned in the last post, the ‘GPT’ part in ChatGPT stands for “Generative Pre-trained Transformer” – just one example of a transformer model in a family of many dozens. Two graphics by Xavier Amatriain illustrate the model boom and interrelationship nicely.
ChatGPT, Bing Search, Bard & Friends - Part I
Last November, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a chatbot built on top of the GPT-3 Large Language Model (LLM) family. Its humanesque responses quickly garnered attention, from interviews and being hailed as "amazing, creative, and totally wrong" to calling it "dumber than you think". It did not take long for people to try find and fix bugs with ChatGPT… or to create polymorphic malware.
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WebTalk "Strategies and Attribution in Cyberspace"
Companies and institutions are increasingly exposed to complex cyberattacks. In order to counter these threats effectively, a deep understanding of the current threat situation and available technologies is crucial. But how can we analyse current attack strategies and improve the attribution of cyber attacks from a security policy perspective? What technical options are available to detect and defend against cyber threats and what role does technological sovereignty play in this? Experts from academia, business and computer science will dsicuss this in the online WebTalk on 4th September 2024.
Shaping Cybersecurity 2024: China's Cyber Challenge
China’s strive for global leadership in cyberspace and related technologies poses a unique challenge to the international rules-based order. China’s vision of a global internet shaped by the interests of its one-party state directly challenges the fundamental values of openness, security and interoperability underpinning today’s global digital ecosystem. Additionally, extensive cyber operations increase the urgency of targeted countries to bolster their cyber defences and resilience, especially in the light of globally heightened geopolitical tensions.
IFSH, AA and ESMT are organising the conference on 17th June 2024.
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Shaping Cybersecurity 2023: Cyber in Conflict
Cyberattacks and information operations accompanying the Russian invasion of Ukraine have underlined the disruptive potential of digital technologies well beyond the immediate conflict zone. Already prior to the war, criminal cyberattacks against critical infrastructure have become major national security threats, heightening geopolitical tensions due to tacit or even active state support.
IFSH, AA and ESMT organised a workshop with more than 200 participants.
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Workshop on Government Vulnerabilities Disclosure
ICS conducted a workshop in cooperation with the Federal Foreign Office on the cyber security aspect of the German National Security Strategy as part of the dialogue processes.
The hybrid event centred on four thematic blocks: security trends and constellations; tasks, goals, and instruments; civil society and business partnerships; as well as regional and international cooperation.
International Cybersecurity Hotchpotch
The newsletter is usually released at the beginning of each week with a summary of noteworthy cyber-security, -science and -policy news.
The International Cybersecurity Research Focus is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt, AA)
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