After two virtual editions, CyCon 2022 came back as an in-person conference, from 31 May to 3 June 2022.
By choosing ‘Keep Moving!’ as the central theme for CyCon 2022, the Programme Committee wanted to primarily convey the resolve not to be stopped by circumstances. The theme, of course, carries a literal meaning as well, as more and more attention is being paid to cybersecurity in the transportation industry, the maritime environment, and the supply chain, as well as to autonomous technologies.
This volume offers 23 papers chosen to best reflect all the facets of this year’s theme on the three traditional CyCon tracks: law, technology, and strategy/policy.
The book opens with the topic of resilience. Max Smeets (Chapter 1) reviews the development and evaluates the achievements of Locked Shields, CCDCOE’s flagship and the world’s biggest cyber defence exercise. Lee A. Bygrave (Chapter 2) counterposes cyber resilience and cyber security as regulatory aspirations. John Morgan Salomon (Chapter 3), using his rich practical experience, recommends how to make the best use of public-private partnerships.
Three papers follow with thought-provoking arguments on cyber defence and deterrence. Martin C. Libicki (Chapter 4) challenges deterrence-by-punishment and explores an alternative approach: obnoxious deterrence. Erica D. Lonergan and Mark Montgomery (Chapter 5) offer an assessment framework and policy recommendations to enhance deterrence and foster meaningful cooperation among NATO allies on offensive cyber operations. Michal Bátrla and Jakub Harašta (Chapter 6) focus on the value of cyber operations in disrupting the ransomware ecosystem. Miguel Alberto Gomez and Gregory Winger (Chapter 7) further develop the theme of offensive cyber operations, exploring the role of third-party countries in cyber conflict.
Several papers explore the impact of emerging and disruptive technologies on the way conflicts in cyberspace are or will be conducted, including the legal implications. Christopher E. Whyte (Chapter 8) studies different manifestations of AI-built intelligence in the cyber conflict decision-making loop, while Lennart Maschmeyer (Chapter 9) takes a critical look at the exploitation of lethal autonomous weapons. Arun Mohan Sukumar (Chapter 10) argues that the growing adoption of autonomous threat-detection technologies will significantly influence state responsibility in international law, specifically by raising the duty of care demanded by the due diligence principle in cyberspace. Tsvetelina J. van Benthem (Chapter 11) examines the legal aspects of the unintended outcomes of using autonomous technologies in targeting under the law of armed conflict.
The discussion on the development of legal norms applicable in cyberspace continues with three more papers. In the first, Petr Stejskal and Martin Faix (Chapter 12) set out to bridge the legal gaps surrounding deceptive actions by states during cyber operations. In the following paper, Sebastian Cymutta, Marten Zwanenburg, and Paul Oling (Chapter 13) address legal questions pertaining to the use of biometric data during multinational military operations, with a focus on EU-led ones. Finally, Seth W. Dilworth and D. Daniel Osborne (Chapter 14) venture as far as space and address the dissonances between regulatory frameworks governing cyber operations and space assets.
Michael L. Thomas (Chapter 15) takes us to the sea domain, sounding the alarm on the vulnerability of maritime shipping to land-based cyber attacks. Following up on issues of cybersecurity in the transportation industry, Christina Lassfolk, Mikko Kiviharju, Sanna Rikkonen, and Hannu Kari (Chapter 16) investigate cybersecurity challenges faced by the railway communication systems of the future from a cryptographer perspective. Georg Baselt, Martin Strohmeier, James Pavur, Vincent Lenders, and Ivan Martinovic (Chapter 17) analyse satellite communication vulnerabilities in the aviation domain. Sampath Rajapaksha, Harsha Kalutarage, M. Omar Al-Kadri, Garikayi Madzudzo, and Andrei Petrovski (Chapter 18) present a context-aware intrusion detection system suitable for deployment in automobiles.
Joseph A. J. Ross, Kimberly Tam, David J. Walker, and Kevin D. Jones (Chapter 19) explore the use of virtualized environments for multi-objective optimization in maritime sites. Siddhant Shrivastava, Francisco Furtado, Mark Goh, and Aditya Mathur (Chapter 20) provide insight into the preparation and execution of cyber defence exercises focused on the protection of critical infrastructure and outline how the use of digital twins can assist the design of such exercises.
Emre Halisdemir, Hacer Karacan, Mauno Pihelgas, Toomas Lepik, and Sungbaek Cho (Chapter 21) then raise the issue of data obsolescence and the problem it poses for machine-learning-based intrusion detection systems; they also offer a solution that builds upon the Locked Shields exercise. In a similar vein, Christopher Molloy, Philippe Charland, Steven H. H. Ding, and Benjamin C. M. Fung (Chapter 22) introduce a phenotype-based malware decomposition system for malware triage aimed at facilitating malware analysis and improving cyber threat intelligence.
Kim Hartmann and Keir Giles (Chapter 23) conclude the book with a study of NATO and allied approaches to 5G network security and supply chain challenges in the past couple of years and how these affect our preparedness for a cyber conflict.
All papers published in the proceedings have been subjected to a double-blind peer review by members of the CyCon Academic Review Committee.