Book Review Fight for the Final Frontier: Irregular Warfare in Space
A seasoned scholar, strategist, and expert in space policy and strategy, Dr. John J. Klein is well-versed in applying strategic theory to the space domain. In his new book, Fight for the Final Frontier: Irregular Warfare in Space (2023), Klein argues that irregular warfare, in both its military and nonmilitary forms, is a vital and underutilized concept for understanding malicious activities in space and the nature of space warfare. His argument draws on a diverse list of strategic theorists, historians, and contemporary policy analyses. Klein weaves these sources together persuasively, providing an accessible overview of a technologically demanding subject. Policy generalists and students, along with veteran analysts of space policy, will benefit from his account.
Book Review - Cyber Threats & Nuclear Weapons
As the world’s infrastructure becomes increasingly interconnected, more critical systems are exposed to cyber threats. A cyber threat is a malicious act intended to steal, damage, or disrupt digital data. Cyber threats seek to turn potential security vulnerabilities into attacks on systems and networks.
Markets Matter - A Glance into the Spyware Industry
The Intellexa Consortium, a complex web of holding companies and vendors for spyware and related services, have been the subject of recent, extensive sanctions by the US Department of the Treasury and the focus of reporting by the European Investigative Collaborations among others. The Consortium represents a compelling example of spyware vendors in the context of the market in which they operate—one which helps facilitate the commercial sale of software driving both human rights and national security risk. This paper addresses an international policy effort among US partners and allies, led by the French and British governments, as well as a surge of US policy attention to address the proliferation of this spyware.
Small Satellites and International Security
Orbiting satellites perform many tasks: communications, broadcasting, weather forecasting, earth observation, intelligence-gathering, and scientific research. The first satellite, launched in 1957, was a modest metal sphere containing a simple radio transmitter. Since then, satellites have grown in size and complexity. Many are visible to anyone with a reasonably powerful backyard telescope.
Who spies on whom? Unravelling the puzzle of state-sponsored cyber economic espionage
Traditional conceptions of state-sponsored cyber economic espionage suggest that countries with different product profiles should experience high levels of espionage between them. However, this is not what we observe empirically. This article offers new insights into the strategic calculations that underpin state-sponsored cyber espionage and challenges scholars and policymakers to rethink the dynamics of international economic competition and security in the digital age.
New Technology and Nuclear Risk
In 2006, two leading scholars of the nuclear era warned that the age of mutually assured destruction (MAD) was ending. Seventeen years later, the authors are doubling down on these claims, arguing that the outbreak of new conventional conflicts has changed nuclear decision making, increasing the threat of coercive nuclear escalation. In an age of new technology, this warning is more pertinent than ever. The rapid introduction of emerging technologies and their weaponization raises concerns about maintaining strategic stability.
Cyber economic espionage: a framework for future research
The study of economic espionage has been dominated by scholarship focused on its legal and legislative aspects. However, economic espionage has important political economy dynamics that have largely gone unexplored. This is unfortunate because recent technological advances and changing dynamics of interstate economic competition mean there is much scope for a progressive research agenda focused on the political economy of cyber economic espionage. This chapter outlines key under-researched areas where the most progress is possible. I advocate for studies focused on examinations of the motives of cyber economic espionage, its conduct, how governments respond to it and how it is influenced by economic interdependence.
Hackers for Hire: Proxy Warfare in the Cyber Realm
In February 2018, the cybersecurity firm FireEye published a report detailing the activities of a hacker group called APT37, which had carried out a series of cyberattacks across Asia. The report assessed “with high confidence” that the group was acting on behalf of the North Korean government. This is just one example of a rising trend, as states increasingly turn to “cyber proxies”—hacker groups that carry out cyber operations on behalf of or in concert with nation states.
Accountability and cyber conflict: examining institutional constraints on the use of cyber proxies
As state-sponsored cyber operations have proliferated, some states are outsourcing these operations to non-state cyber proxies. However, given the relative ease of outsourcing cyber operations, it is puzzling why more states are not engaged in this practice. This study examines how domestic accountability institutions potentially explain this restraint in the use of cyber proxies.
Espionage attempts like the SolarWinds hack are inevitable, so it’s safer to focus on defense – not retaliation
In the wake of the major espionage operation in which people alleged to be Russian government agents infiltrated the digital networks of the U.S. Defense, Treasury and Homeland Security departments – as well as other government agencies and private companies – President Joe Biden is considering how to respond. It’s not clear exactly what data the hackers actually stole in the time they had access, roughly from March through December 2020, but they exploited software made by the Texas-based firm SolarWinds to gain access to key research and security information, including research for future nuclear weapons.
International trade and cyber conflict: Decomposing the effect of trade on state-sponsored cyber attacks
A state’s decision to engage in cyber operations has important implications for its trade. Successful cyber espionage could yield valuable trade secrets that could boost domestic production and spur economic growth. On the other hand, uncovered cyber operations could invite devastating sanctions that retard economic development. In spite of this, the nexus between trade and cyber attacks has received little attention in the literature. In this article, I explore how a state’s trade relations affect its propensity to engage in cyber attacks.
Hackers could shut down satellites – or turn them into weapons
Last month, SpaceX became the operator of the world’s largest active satellite constellation. As of the end of January, the company had 242 satellites orbiting the planet with plans to launch 42,000 over the next decade. This is part of its ambitious project to provide internet access across the globe. The race to put satellites in space is on, with Amazon, U.K.-based OneWeb and other companies chomping at the bit to place thousands of satellites in orbit in the coming months.