On 24 April 2023, The US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Dr. Avril Haines was invited to a public conversation with Carnegie’s Dan Baer on combatting digital authoritarianism. This is a summary of her presentation. The entire presentation including the Q&A session is on Carnegie Endowment’s YouTube-page.

Today, democracy is increasingly challenged by autocratic leaders that contest over information, defined as “the increasing use of digital technology to promote authoritarianism.” The DNI highlighted the importance of intellectual exchange between the intelligence community and think tanks like Carnegie Endowment to “challenge our thinking and work to ensure that we are focused on what matters, and not missing the broader strategic pictures.” This collaboration is especially fruitful in understanding the landscape, addressing the problem, and focus in one aspect of a problem.

On 16 March 2023, the U.K. Cabinet Office announced that the social media app TikTok is banned on government electronic devices. The reason?

A security review ordered by the Cabinet Office Ministers aimed to look “at the potential vulnerability of government data from social media apps on devices and risks around how sensitive information could be accessed and used by some platforms.”

Euronews reported on 17 March 2023 that in addition to the U.K., “New Zealand, The European Parliament, European Commission, and the E.U. Council,…, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, India, Taiwan, and the United States” have banned TikTok from government devices. Euronews reports that Afghanistan and Pakistan have also banned the app.

Today I had the honor of presenting on the cyber threat landscape and its implications for civil organizations. The increased interconnectedness provides many opportunities, but at the same time, threat actors and their behavior can put individuals and organizations at risk.

The purpose was to:

• Minimize risks to staff, assets, and operations.
• Raise awareness of possible threats and related tactics, techniques, and procedures, and
• Present some cases to illustrate the impact of successful cyber attacks against companies.

The objective of the training was to raise staff awareness. After the presentation, staff can:

My latest article at the 19th International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security, Towson University, raises the question what is the current state of digital geopolitics?

There is no technology that has transformed societies in the ways that information- and telecommunications technology (ITC) has. The increased pace of digitalization has opened opportunities to conduct e-commerce, e-governance, streamline processes, but also transformed intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and command and control of joint military operations.

My latest article at the 19th International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security, Towson University, raises the question of what are offensive cyberspace operations for cyber security, and why now?

Offensive cyberspace operations are actions taken by an organized group of people with a defined purpose. The purpose is to take down an adversary’s devices, infrastructure, and tools. By taking the fight to the adversary, it may be possible to make them switch stance: from conducting attacks to defending themselves. These actions ensure cyber security.