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.

Time to climb a new mountain

After four years as a Scientist at the NATO CCD COE, which was preceded by another three years of work helping set up and develop the Centre, the time has finally come to move on to face new challenges. Or to be a bit more specific, this time will come sometime in the second half of 2012.

I feel I am ready to explore cyber security and cyber conflict from new angles. I love teaching, so an academic approach is definitely a possibility. It would also be interesting to gain experience from private sector perspective. Most likely I will try to combine various options to get the "perfect blend" for the time being. By the look of things I will make my decision later this month.

I can't say for sure what road I will follow, but one thing I definitely want to do is to revive this blog. I have been very busy (personally, academically, professionally) for the past couple of years and, sadly, this blog was one of the easiest things to put on hold while I got things sorted out. Yet, people still seem to find it every once in a while, as the visit counter passed ten thousand last month. This adds to my motivation to get things going again.

Time to re-invent myself...