Dr Leonie Tanczer helps to further understanding of contemporary developments in offensive cyber

The inaugural scoping workshop of the Offensive Cyber Working Group, which was held on 18 November 2020, brought together senior and early career academics and those in government and industry to discuss ‘offensive cyber’. The workshop addressed what offensive cyber is, identified a number of cross-thematic challenges and outlined specialised research responses to challenges within participant’s areas of interest.

The subsequent report outlines the contrasting and diverse research interests identified during the scoping workshop and organises these into five emergent themes summarising the challenges facing offensive cyber.

The five themes identified in the report are:

1. Blurred Lines: Issues of working across diverse disciplines and expertise; developing effective typologies or taxonomies; as well as understanding the terrains of engagement.
2. Responsibility and Risk: The benefits of regulation; the applicability of international law; as well as the balance of harms and associated proportionality of actions.
3. Societal Debate: Concerns over the militarisation of the debate; transparent government communication; and an aspiration to foster an informed public.
4. Strategy and International Cooperation: The development of norms; the strategic aims of the UK and other states; the analysis of thresholds and trigger points; as well as international alliances and their impact on offensive cyber.
5. Operational Details: How to deal with the resources and the maintenance of technology and people who conduct offensive cyber operations; their organisational structures; and how to interact with (non-governmental) third parties.

The Offensive Cyber Working Group is a new initiative bringing together individuals from across academia, government, and industry to discuss contemporary developments in ‘offensive cyber’ within the UK. Their work is coordinated by an academic steering committee, which includes Dr Leonie Tanczer, Lecturer in International Security and Emerging Technologies in UCL STEaPP, to encourage debate, research, and collaboration across diverse disciplines, perspectives, and practice.

The full scoping workshop report can be downloaded from the Offensive Cyber Working Group website.