Content Assessment: Considering Attribution of Cyber Operations: A Tallinn Paper

Information - 95%
Insight - 100%
Relevance - 90%
Objectivity - 90%
Authority - 95%

94%

Excellent

A short percentage-based assessment of the qualitative benefit of the post highlighting the recent Tallinn Paper on the attribution of cyber operations.

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Educational Paper* by Garrett Derian-Toth, Ryan Walsh, Alexandra Sergueeva, Edward Kim, Alivia Coon, Hilda Hadan  and Jared Stancombe

Backgrounder: The NATO CCDCOE’s Tallinn Papers are designed to inform strategic dialogue regarding cyber security within the Alliance and beyond. They address cyber security from a multidisciplinary perspective by examining a wide range of issues, including cyber threat assessment, domestic and international legal dilemmas, governance matters, assignment of roles and responsibilities for the cyber domain, the militarization of cyberspace, and technical. Focusing on the most pressing cyber security debates, the Tallinn Papers aim to support the creation of a legal and policy architecture that is responsive to the peculiar challenges of cyberspace. With their future-looking approach, they seek to raise awareness and to provoke the critical thinking that is required for well-informed decision-making on the political and strategic levels.

Opportunities for Public and Private Attribution of Cyber Operations

Abstract

State-sponsored cyber-attacks have altered the playing field of international conflict and espionage because these operations often fall below the established threshold of response and regularly target private infrastructure. This has created difficulties for victim nations and their private sector entities regarding how to attribute a state-sponsored offensive cyber operation and what role each party should play in the attribution process. More broadly, the attribution of state-sponsored offensive cyber operations affects more than just cybersecurity. Rather, there is a relationship between attribution of offensive cyber operations and international relations where attribution is used for purposes such as reinforcing rules in cyberspace and imposing costs on malicious actors. Offensive cyber operations and attributions are used to shape a state’s global policy and posture and can reflect generations of conflicts, allegiances and intelligence-sharing networks. This paper gives an overview of the motivations, tools, techniques, procedures and alliances of attribution of state-sponsored offensive cyber operations. For the purposes of this article, attribution is defined as creating a body of evidence or a claim publicly linking a state to an offensive cyber operation. Along the way, the limitations of attribution, the general legal framework, norms regarding attribution and alternatives to attribution are examined. Our research reveals a fragmentation among actors regarding attitudes towards attribution and information sharing. We have also identified factors that reflect positive outcomes for attribution, including developing cyber norms, increasing the role of private sector actors and evolving laws that actively prevent cyber interference. Our findings are supported by a dataset that tracks state-sponsored offensive cyber operation attribution.


Complete Paper: Opportunities for Public and Private Attribution for Cyber Operations – Mouseover to Scroll 

Tallinn Papers Attribution 18082021

Read the original paper.

Reference: Derian-Toth, G., Walsh, R., Sergueeva, A., Kim, E., Coon, A., Hadan, H. and Stancombe, J., 2021. Opportunities for Public and Private Attribution of Cyber Operations. Tallinn Papers. [online] NATO CCDCOE. Available at: <https://ccdcoe.org/uploads/2021/08/Tallinn_Papers_Attribution_18082021.pdf> [Accessed 19 August 2021].

*Shared with permission as an educational paper for non-commercial use in accordance with NATO CCDCOE disclaimer terms.


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