Academic life

It has been a long time since my last post and a lot has happened since. The last year has been interesting, as I was searching for my next challenge. I'll try rebooting this blog, as well.

I left the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence at the turn of the year. I had been involved with it since January of 2005, when I first joined the team that was doing the preparation work to get the Centre established. When that happened in May of 2008, I took on the role of a scientist (first at R&D, later at Training and Doctrine). This time was instrumental in my personal and professional growth and I am very grateful to the Centre and the Estonian Defence Forces for the opportunities I was offered during my service. However, after five years at CCD COE, it was time to move on, lest I get too comfortable in my role there.

Therefore, I did some soul searching and job searching last year. My job search revealed that there are many empty slots to fill, so I opted for the approach that allows me to address the qualified manpower shortage in the most direct way. Last September I took on a part-time teaching position in University of Jyväskylä, Finland, in order to get experience and to see a bit more of the academic world. As of last month, I am also an Associate Professor in Tallinn University of Technology, working on cyber security topics (a 50% position). Both of these Universities have ambitious goals for building up a strong cyber security program, so I will have some interesting years ahead.

I have also reserved a fraction of my time for other interesting projects (consulting, etc.) that come up, such as cyber exercises and targeted short term research projects. All in all, this arrangement gives me a lot of flexibility and a wider net to fish for exciting challenges.

So far, I am enjoying myself. Life is very busy, but fun as well. 

ECIW 2013 in Jyväskylä, Finland

The next European Conference on Information Warfare and Security (ECIW) takes place in University of Jyväskylä, Finland, on 11-12 July 2013. I will run a mini-track on Cyber Professionalism and Military Cyber Operations. The description of the mini-track follows:

In a time of constrained resources, everyone is trying to do more with less. One area that merits serious study is the use of military cyber operations in support of, or instead of, conventional military operations. While by no means a cheap option, cyber operations offer asymmetric benefits if used sparingly and only against targets of strategic importance.

 

While not a part of the standard order of battle yet, many states are making serious efforts in developing their military cyber capability. In general, they all share the same problems: figuring out the composition and TTP’s of cyber units, finding the best possible people to staff them and integrating the cyber capabilities with the existing toolset of the commander.

Topics for this track may include but are not limited to:

• military cyber operations
• tactics, techniques and procedures for cyber operations
• identifying, recruiting, training and retaining cyber operatives
• cyber force structure – unit composition, specialization, location in the command chain, rank mix, etc.
• role of active forces, reserve forces, as well as militias and other volunteer groups. 

The CFP is open until 20 December, so it is time to warm up your keyboards.

 

You may have noticed that my affiliation is listed as University of Jyväskylä. This is because for the past three months I have taught in Jyväskylä as a (part-time) post-doctoral researcher. It is part of my transition from my current main position in the NATO CCD COE to academia in the next few months. I am also applying for a part time position in Tallinn University of Technology and will hopefully join the faculty there in February.

CFP for CyCon 2013 is out

The CFP for the NATO CCD COE annual conference CyCon 2013 is now out. Abstract submission deadline is 01 November, so it is time to write down your thoughts.

Tallinn Manual

The Tallinn Manual, or Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare (MILCW), is nearing completion. While the book version is getting its finishing touches at Cambridge University Press (scheduled to publish in early 2013), the soft copy is now available on the NATO CCD COE website. [NB! Be sure to note the disclaimers about the status of the manual!]

I had the pleasure to participate in the development of this very interesting Manual for three years. As one of the 'Technical Experts', my role was to explain various cyber and computing concepts to the lawyers, as well as participate in creating many of the examples found in the book.

I wish to thank the group, for it was fascinating work and I learned a great deal in the process.

Time to climb a new mountain - Part II

While there are still some uncertainties, it looks like I have at least identified the mountain range in question.

The current plan is to split my time between teaching and researching in Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia) and University of Jyväskylä (Finland), with 25% of my time left for various projects that I can pursue in self-employed mode (ideas welcome). The switch is going to happen in the next few months and should be complete by the end of the year.

I will still focus on cyber conflict and national cyber security research, so that is not going to change. However, I hope to tie my current research with a different field or approach, such as AI or situational awareness, in order to cover interesting new ground. I am not set on a topic yet and will explore cooperation opportunities as they develop.