German and Israeli Innovation: The Best of Two Worlds

This study reviews – through desk research and expert interviews with Mittelstand companies, startups and ecosystem experts – the current status of the Israeli startup ecosystem and the Mittelstand region of North Rhine- Westphalia (NRW), Germany. As a case study, it highlights potential opportunities for collaboration and analyzes different engagement modes that might serve to connect the two regions. The potential synergies between the two economies are based on a high degree of complementarity. A comparison of NRW’s key verticals and Israel’s primary areas of innovation indicates that there is significant overlap in verticals, such as artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), sensors and cybersecurity. Israeli startups can offer speed, agility and new ideas, while German Mittelstand companies can contribute expertise in production and scaling, access to markets, capital and support. The differences between Mittelstand companies and startups are less pronounced than those between startups and big corporations. However, three current barriers to fruitful collaboration have been identified: 1) a lack of access, 2) a lack of transparency regarding relevant players in the market, and 3) a lack of the internal resources needed to select the right partners, often due to time constraints or a lack of internal expertise on this issue. To ensure that positive business opportunities ensue, Mittelstand companies and startups alike have to be proactive in their search for cooperation partners and draw on a range of existing engagement modes (e.g., events, communities, accelerators). The interviews and the research conducted for this study made clear that no single mode of engagement can address all the needs and challenges associated with German-Israeli collaboration

Governance of Dual-Use Technologies: Theory and Practice

The term dual-use characterizes technologies that can have both military and civilian applications. What is the state of current efforts to control the spread of these powerful technologies—nuclear, biological, cyber—that can simultaneously advance social and economic well-being and also be harnessed for hostile purposes? What have previous efforts to govern, for example, nuclear and biological weapons taught us about the potential for the control of these dual-use technologies? What are the implications for governance when the range of actors who could cause harm with these technologies include not just national governments but also non-state actors like terrorists? These are some of the questions addressed by Governance of Dual-Use Technologies: Theory and Practice, the new publication released today by the Global Nuclear Future Initiative of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The publication's editor is Elisa D. Harris, Senior Research Scholar, Center for International Security Studies, University of Maryland School of Public Affairs. Governance of Dual-Use Technologies examines the similarities and differences between the strategies used for the control of nuclear technologies and those proposed for biotechnology and information technology. The publication makes clear the challenges concomitant with dual-use governance. For example, general agreement exists internationally on the need to restrict access to technologies enabling the development of nuclear weapons. However, no similar consensus exists in the bio and information technology domains. The publication also explores the limitations of military measures like deterrence, defense, and reprisal in preventing globally available biological and information technologies from being misused. Some of the other questions explored by the publication include: What types of governance measures for these dual-use technologies have already been adopted? What objectives have those measures sought to achieve? How have the technical characteristics of the technology affected governance prospects? What have been the primary obstacles to effective governance, and what gaps exist in the current governance regime? Are further governance measures feasible? In addition to a preface from Global Nuclear Future Initiative Co-Director Robert Rosner (University of Chicago) and an introduction and conclusion from Elisa Harris, Governance of Dual-Use Technologiesincludes:On the Regulation of Dual-Use Nuclear Technology by James M. Acton (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)Dual-Use Threats: The Case of Biotechnology by Elisa D. Harris (University of Maryland)Governance of Information Technology and Cyber Weapons by Herbert Lin (Stanford University

The First Space-Cyber War and the Need for New Regimes and Policies

Many dubbed the Gulf War of 1991 the "first space war" due to the US Armed Forces' extensive use of satellites. The cyberwar in Ukraine, although it is mostly playing out in the shadows, may be remembered as the first space-cyber war.This policy brief makes the case that states should adopt national policies to defend against threats to space-based assets and applications, such as communications satellites, that are both vital to national security and economic security and increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks.It is time to explore and identify principles for responsible space-cyber behaviour that would represent a broad multilateral consensus. Identifying these principles may not prevent space-cyber hostilities but could provide "rules of the game."States would also benefit from encouraging a space-cyber security industry that, beyond protecting against space-cyber threats, has the potential to be a significant growth engine

The Blurring Politics of Cyber Conflict : A Critical Study of the Digital in Palestine and Beyond

This thesis explores how the politics of cyber conflict redefine violence, sovereignty, and territory in and through cyberspace. It does this by studying how the digital mediates different facets and experiences of conflict and security in Palestine. Through a comprehensive and context-informed approach, this research theorizes cyber conflict as a phenomenon spanning beyond the conventional sites, agencies, and categories of international cybersecurity and warfare. Paper I analyzes the game scenarios of international and national cyberwar exercises to understand how military strategists envision cyberwar and normalize the idea of cyberspace as a domain of warfare through the creation of simulacra of war. Paper II develops a disembodied perspective on the violence of cyber conflict by highlighting its harmful informational aspects through a reflection on how these have affected the process of knowledge production during the fieldwork of this dissertation. Paper III engages with the Palestinian national strategy for cybersecurity (and the lack thereof) to disentangle infrastructural/informational elements of the cyber/digital sovereignty narrative and reveal its emancipatory potential for actors other than the state. Paper IV interrogates the extent to which Israeli and Palestinian policies and strategies articulate cyberspace in territorial terms and reproduce its diverse spatial realities of annexation, occupation, and blockade in cyberspace. Paper V examines the relationship between conflict, technology, and freedom to critique the inclusion of internet access into the agenda on human rights by analyzing the political dynamics of connectivity in Palestine. Paper VI unravels how the video game's augmented reality of East Jerusalem constructs a spatial imaginary of the city that, by erasing the Palestinian urban space from digital representation, neutralizes the experience of play through a diminished reality. Paper VII explores how algorithms rearticulate security practices by making Palestinian users and contents hyper-visible to surveillance while also creating an aesthetics of disappearance through the erasure of Palestine from cyber and digital spaces. Through this comprehensive empirical approach, this research also contributes to cybersecurity scholarship by problematizing the epistemological relevance of traditional categories and thresholds of warfare and security for shedding light on the blurring politics of cyber conflict. Besides revealing the inadequacy of framing conflict in cyberspace as only an issue of warfare and security, the study of cyber conflict in Palestine also shows how the construction and operationalization of these narratives ultimately affect political life and individual liberties via (the seizure of) the digital

K-12 Cybersecurity Program Evaluation and Its Application

As the use of the Internet and computers continues to increase, so does the prevalence of cybercrime. However, there is currently no global standard education curriculum guideline in place to prevent cybercrime or cybercrime victimization. The purpose of this study is to examine programs designed for students in grades K-12 that have already been implemented in communities across the country in order to determine the amount of information taught and to identify a global standard preventative program for all educational institutions. This project will be an exploratory study in which existing K-12 curriculum programs are reviewed qualitatively using a content analysis method based upon the theoretical framework of Choi’s Cyber-Routine Activities Theory (Cyber RAT) (Choi, 2008). The expected outcome of this research is to identify and create standards for an ideal cybersecurity educational program for students in grades K-12. This research is timely and imperative in the field of criminal justice because crimes are becoming increasingly prevalent in the cyber-world with very limited means available to control or prevent them. Findings in this study suggest that most programs teach students a sufficient amount of topics relating to computer hygiene, computer ethics, and technological skills. However, further research must be conducted to determine the quality of these programs in adequately informing students about topics involving cybersecurity and cybercrime

Democracy and Digital Authoritarianism: An Assessment of the EU’s External Engagement in the Promotion and Protection of Internet Freedom. College of Europe EU Diplomacy Paper 01/2020

The past decade has seen a gradual global increase in digital authoritarianism. Internet shutdowns, online censorship, mass surveillance and violations of privacy rights have all become more frequent in parts of the world where citizens are not guaranteed sufficient digital rights. The task of defending, promoting and protecting internet freedom is becoming increasingly relevant for the European Union (EU) − for internal digital and cybersecurity policies as well as for the EU’s external promotion of democracy and human rights. Whilst much has been written about the various internal policies which establish and protect internet freedom within the European Union and its member states, the EU’s external engagement in this field remains critically under-researched. To what extent does the EU engage externally in the promotion and protection of internet freedom? This paper answers this question by covering a wide variety of policy fields including human rights and democracy promotion, digital policy, enlargement and neighbourhood policy, development cooperation and trade policy. Whereas the EU faces a limited opportunity to shape global norms with regard to internet freedom or to change the course of digitally authoritarian states, it has demonstrated several strengths which deserve not to be overlooked. These include, for example, the externalisation of internal data protection and policies and the provision of direct support and protection for civil society. Despite facing significant obstacles, the promotion and protection of internet freedom has become an important area of the EU’s external action which is only set to become more relevant in the coming years