Course Description:
Cybersecurity issues are atop the agenda of governments, international organizations, and the corporate world. Although many individuals do not yet grasp the multifaceted nature of cybercrimes, the potential of such crimes to affect both individual and state security, as well as the functioning of modern economies is great. This course will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of cybersecurity as a domestic and international policy issue. We will focus on legal aspects as well as on risk prevention strategies and practices rather than discuss the details of software and hardware solutions. Accordingly, we will examine different dimensions of cybersecurity: inter-state, transnational, civil, economic, corporate and individual. We will discuss contemporary cybersecurity case studies, related policies, and risks for personal privacy due to special antiterrorist laws. We will learn about data theft, data protection from fraudulent modification, fake profile fabrication, web defacement campaigns, cyberterrorism, targeted cyberespionage attacks and fake news creation and dissemination. We will see how the cybercriminal underground has been co-opted by governments to prepare for cyberwars. Perhaps most importantly, we will discuss why the European Union, NATO, or other international organizations have been failing so far to establish an effective framework for combatting cyberthreats.
Course Topics:
- The Lexica of Cybersecurity
- Cyberspace Vulnerabilities and Cybersecurity Awareness
- The Dark Net – Individual, Corporate, and State Perspectives on Cybercrime and Cyber-violence
- From Cyberactivism to Cyberterrorism and (Cyber)terrorism
- The State in Cyberspace: Espionage, Sabotage and Cyberwar
- Disinformation and Propaganda
- Legislation
- The Corporate World: Staying Ahead of the Trend?
- The European Union and Cybersecurity
- Collective Cyberdefence? NATO and Cyberwar
Coursework And Assessment:
A major part of the final grade will be based on the assigned teamwork task. Participants will be divided into three-four groups, which will play a role of consultative bodies, providing a government department or a company with situation assessment and recommendation on a hypothetical cybersecurity crisis scenario. The scenario will be developing throughout the course: participants will be given new pieces of information and asked to react to them in a relevant form. On the final day of the course, the groups will present their eventual assessment of the fully-developed crisis and recommendations.