Rethinking Cybersecurity Strategy

Cyber conflict has intensified in the last two years as Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea use coercive cyber attacks against the United States

Cyber conflict has intensified in the last two years as Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea use coercive cyber attacks against the United States. There is increasing frustration over the slow pace of efforts to improve cybersecurity and increasing concern that a truly damaging event is unavoidable if we do not change the status quo.

CSIS will bring together leading experts and analysts to develop recommendations for a significantly more effective approach to cybersecurity. The project will focus on policies and technologies that take the advantage away from the attacker by examining options for a policy and legal framework needed to enable proactive cybersecurity policy and reviewing technological options available to the U.S. by finding ways to take full advantage of cybersecurity innovations developed in Silicon Valley. This project will also examine the implications of a more proactive approach for broader U.S. foreign policy and military strategy by considering how to manage the risk of escalation, developing common approaches with allies, and drawing upon the experience of nonproliferation to counter the global proliferation of malicious exploits and malware in the cybercrime black market and dark web.

CSIS will produce four innovative whitepapers throughout the course of the project to provide insights to U.S. and foreign leaders on new approaches to cybersecurity, and an authoritative final monograph that captures its research, findings and recommendations.