Cyber Deterrence

Cyberattacks represent a persistent and complex challenge for states, corporations, and individuals. The persistence of cyber threats and harms seems to demonstrate that no effective approach to “cyber deterrence” has yet been established. There is a long-running debate among academics and policy experts about the applicability of traditional concepts of deterrence to the cyber domain. However, there is growing consensus that some characteristics of cyber operations and capabilities render many traditional approaches to deterrence inadequate or inapplicable, creating a broad lack of accountability for cyberattacks and malicious activity. Thus there is an urgent need to identify practical and actor-specific means to deter such activity.

The Stimson Center’s Cyber Program is working to advance practical understandings of cyber deterrence, including in relation to concepts of accountability, in order to develop more effective policy approaches to deterring malicious cyber activities. This project builds on the Cyber Accountability project, as well as the work of the Defense Strategy and Planning team on deterrence. Through a series of virtual and in-person roundtables, workshops, and policy dialogues, the project will promote understanding about how accountability and deterrence are related and produce recommendations to support the implementation of more effective, contextually relevant deterrence strategies, consistent with international law and norms of responsible cyber behavior.

The project is jointly implemented by the Cyber Program and the Defense Strategy and Planning team.