Cybersecurity

Great Decisions 2012 | Topic 4

Defense in the Digital Age

by Ronald Deibert

The securitization of cyberspace has caused a sea change for both governments and the private sector, faced with new threats, new battlegrounds and new opportunities. Faced with challenges such as international cybercrime and authoritarian control of networks, how will the U.S. and its democratic allies approach the cyber frontier? How does this new domain figure in U.S. strategic interests?

Read a sample from the Briefing Book article

Watch an introduction to the Television Series episode

Read the Spring Update

Take the Spring Quiz for "Cybersecurity"

Latest News

Cybersecurity Latest News

Related Organizations

  • National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education

    The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) has evolved from the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, and extends its scope beyond the federal workplace to include civilians and students in kindergarten through post-graduate school. The goal of NICE is to establish an operational, sustainable and continually improving cybersecurity education program for the nation to use sound cyber practices that will enhance the nation’s security.
     

     

  • On Guard On Line

    OnGuardOnline.gov is the federal government’s website to help you be safe, secure and responsible online. The Federal Trade Commission manages OnGuardOnline.gov, in partnership with the federal agencies listed below. OnGuardOnline.gov is a partner in the Stop.Think.Connect. campaign, led by the Department of Homeland Security, and part of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

     

  • Center for Strategic and International Studies

    For 50 years, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has developed practical solutions to the world’s greatest challenges. Today’s global landscape presents strategic opportunities that will define our future. As we celebrate this milestone, CSIS scholars are developing strategic insights and bipartisan policy solutions to help decision makers chart a course toward a better world.

     

  • Rand Corporation

    he RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND focuses on the issues that matter most such as health, education, national security, international affairs, law and business, the environment, and more. With a research staff consisting of some of the world's preeminent minds, RAND has been expanding the boundaries of human knowledge for more than 60 years.
     

     

Recommended Readings

  • Worm: the First Digital World War

     by Mark Bowden
     

    The Conficker worm infected its first computer in November 2008 and within a month had infiltrated 1.5 million computers in 195 countries. Banks, telecommunications companies, and critical government networks (including the British Parliament and the
    French and German military) were infected. No one had ever seen anything like it. By January 2009 the worm lay hidden in at least eight million computers and the botnet of linked computers that it had created was big enough that an attack might crash the world. This is the gripping tale of the group of hackers, researches, millionaire Internet entrepreneurs, and computer security experts who united to defend the Internet from the Conficker worm: the story of the first digital world war.

     

  • Russia’s Top Cyber Sleuth Foils US Spies, Helps Kremlin Pals

    Wired magaize profiles Eugene Kaspersky, owner of Kaspersky Labs, one of the world's leading Internet security companies.  Earlier in 2012, his company discovered the origins of the Stuxnet worm.  As his company's reputation for revealing cyber-espionage attacks grows, Kaspersky has become a vocal advocate for a more striclty regulated Internet.  According to this post from Wired, his company is also closely associated with Russia's security service, the FSB.

     

  • Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker

    by Kevin Mitnick

    Kevin Mitnick was the most elusive computer break-in artist in history. He accessed computers and networks at the world's biggest companies--and however fast the authorities were, Mitnick was faster, sprinting through phone switches, computer systems, and cellular networks. He spent years skipping through cyberspace, always three steps ahead and labeled unstoppable. But for Kevin, hacking wasn't just about technological feats-it was an old fashioned confidence game that required guile and deception to trick the unwitting out of valuable information.

     

  • Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What to do About it

    by Richard A. Clarke

    Richard A. Clarke warned America once before about the havoc terrorism would wreak on our national security -- and he was right. Now he warns us of another threat, silent but equally dangerous. Cyber War is a powerful book about technology, government, and military strategy; about criminals, spies, soldiers, and hackers. This is the first book about the war of the future -- cyber war -- and a convincing argument that we may already be in peril of losing it.

     

  • America the Vulnerable: Inside the New Threat Matrix of Digital Espionage, Crime, and Warfare

    by Joel Brenner

    A former top-level National Security Agency insider goes behind the headlines to explore America's next great battleground: digital security. An urgent wake-up call that identifies our foes; unveils their methods; and charts the dire consequences for government, business, and individuals.



     

     

Great Decisions 2024 cover image.