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Semi-State Actors in Cybersecurity is a historical interpretation of the politics of cybersecurity. Drawing on a historical analogy to pirates, privateers, and mercantile companies, Florian J. Egloff examines the political constitution of cybercrime, state-sponsored hackers, and large technology companies, and what their co-presence means for national and international security. Moreover, Egloff shows how semi-state actors are historically and contemporarily linked to understandings of statehood, sovereignty, and the legitimacy of the state.
List of contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Introduction and Research Strategy
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Using a Historical Analogy as a Research Strategy
- Histories of the Sea and Cyberspace, Comparison, and Locating the Analogy in Time
- 3. A History of the Loosely Governed Sea Between the 16th -19th Century: From the Age of Privateering to its Abolition
- 4. A Brief History of Cyberspace: Origins and Development of (In-)Security in Cyberspace
- 5. The Sea and Cyberspace: Comparison and Analytical Lines of Inquiry
- Applying the Analogy to Cybersecurity
- 6. Cyber Pirates and Privateers: State Proxies, Criminals, and Independent Patriotic Hackers
- 7. Cyber Mercantile Companies: Conflict and Cooperation
- Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- A note on sources
- References
- Index
About the author
Florian J. Egloff is a Senior Researcher in Cybersecurity at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich. His research focuses on the role of non-and semi-state actors in cybersecurity, the politics of public attribution, and the use of cyber intrusions for political purposes.
Summary
The universe of actors involved in international cybersecurity includes both state actors and semi- and non-state actors, including technology companies, state-sponsored hackers, and cybercriminals. Among these are semi-state actors--actors in a close relationship with one state who sometimes advance this state's interests, but are not organizationally integrated into state functions. In Semi-State Actors in Cybersecurity, Florian J. Egloff argues that political relations in cyberspace fundamentally involve concurrent collaboration and competition between states and semi-state actors. To understand the complex interplay of cooperation and competition and the power relations that exist between these actors in international relations, Egloff looks to a historical analogy: that of mercantile companies, privateers, and pirates.
Pirates, privateers, and mercantile companies were integral to maritime security between the 16th and 19th centuries. In fact, privateers and mercantile companies, like today's tech companies and private cyber contractors, had a particular relationship to the state in that they conducted state-sanctioned private attacks against foreign vessels. Pirates, like independent hackers, were sometimes useful allies, and other times enemies. These actors traded, explored, plundered, and controlled sea-lanes and territories across the world's oceans--with state navies lagging behind, often burdened by hierarchy.
Today, as cyberspace is woven into the fabric of all aspects of society, the provision and undermining of security in digital spaces has become a new arena for digital pirates, privateers, and mercantile companies. In making the analogy to piracy and privateering, Egloff provides a new understanding of how attackers and defenders use their proximity to the state politically and offers lessons for understanding how actors exercise power in cyberspace. Drawing on historical archival sources, Egloff identifies the parallels between today's cyber in-security and the historical quest for gold and glory on the high seas. The book explains what the presence of semi-state actors means for national and international security, and how semi-state actors are historically and contemporarily linked to understandings of statehood, sovereignty, and the legitimacy of the state.
Additional text
Privateers at sea were once a common practice. Should private companies and groups today be allowed to 'hack-back' against cyber criminals and governments? Egloff's pathbreaking work makes good use of history and security studies to explore some of the most pressing problems we face in cybersecurity.
