Cyberspace: Malevolent Actors, Criminal Opportunities, and Strategic Competition

This report is intended to provide cyberspace decision-makers with a more comprehensive, clearer description of cyberspace, which they can use to manage and make decisions about cyberspace programs to improve the effectiveness of government in this critically important area. The report offers an assessment of, and recommendations focused on, the unique characteristics of cyberspace, which were initially designed without much focus on security or risk management. This publication has three parts: the first focuses on cyberspace, itself; the second on some of the major forms of malevolence or threats that have become one of its defining characteristics; and the third on possible responses to these threats. One of the most significant features of cyberspace is that it is becoming a risky place for the entire spectrum of users: nation-states, nongovernmental and transnational organizations, commercial enterprises, and individuals. At the same time, it is a space of opportunities--for benevolent, neutral, and malevolent actors. The authors identify and assess the challenges and threats to security that can arise in cyberspace because of its unique nature. In the final section, the authors discuss a variety of responses, with some suggesting that the most favored options being pursued by the United States are poorly conceived and ill-suited to the tasks at hand.

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