Since February 2022, I have been keeping track of the role of cyber warfare in the Russia-Ukraine war. I have also been keeping track of the public debate about the role of cyber warfare, what I like to call "the cyberwar war." To do so, I monitor news media mentions of cyber in news media coverage of the war, social media posts and information shared by cybersecurity … [Read more...] about The Russia-Ukraine Cyberwar War – 20-26 Nov 2022
Cyber Doom
On Cyber Threats U.S. Has Been “Looking In The Wrong Direction”
When it comes to cyber threats, the United States has been "thinking and looking in the wrong direction," according to one expert at the recent Cambridge Cyber Summit. ThreatPost reports: The nature of cyberattacks is changing and increasingly leveraging social media as they take aim at new targets. That’s the consensus of cybersecurity experts discussing the evolving nature … [Read more...] about On Cyber Threats U.S. Has Been “Looking In The Wrong Direction”
Russian Information Warfare Leaves Few Good Response Options
Levi Maxey over at The Cipher Brief echoes a few of the concerns I have had recently regarding Russia, information warfare, and cyber war. The first is that the West, the U.S. in particular, has been distracted by fears of cyber-doom when actual threats are both more mundane and potentially more difficult to prevent or mitigate. He writes, Unlike Western fears of cyber … [Read more...] about Russian Information Warfare Leaves Few Good Response Options
Cyber Pearl Harbor: A 25 Year Retrospective
I am posting a paper that my colleague Michael Middleton and I presented last fall at a conference at George Washington University. The paper provides a systematic analysis of the origins and use of "cyber Pearl Harbor" as an analogy and metaphor by various actors in the U.S. cyber security debate. The full citation and link to the PDF: Sean Lawson and Michael K. Middleton, … [Read more...] about Cyber Pearl Harbor: A 25 Year Retrospective
DOD: Cyber Pearl Harbor Hasn’t Happened Because We Deterred It
For years, I have been a critic of cyber security advocates' use of doom rhetoric to call attention and motivate a response to cyber threats. Perhaps the chief example of such rhetoric is the cyber Pearl Harbor analogy, which as been used regularly in the U.S. cyber security debate since 1991. One criticism that I and others have made of this analogy is that focussing … [Read more...] about DOD: Cyber Pearl Harbor Hasn’t Happened Because We Deterred It