Cyber: Hacking, Espionage, Terrorism & Warfare

Description

Hacking is having a profound impact on international security. As technological evolution accelerates with the coming of artificial intelligence, synthetic media (deepfakes), and quantum technologies, we will see dramatic societal and geopolitical disruptions. The manipulation of these technologies, particular via hacking, will introduce further complexity.

This course explores the impact of the internet and hacking on international security. The programme comprises seven lectures that examine cyber’s impact on espionage, surveillance, terrorism, and warfare. The course also considers how cyber security is achieved in a constantly mutating technical and political environment. The lectures draw extensively on historic and contemporary case studies, including the ongoing wars in Europe and the Middle-East.

Lecture I: Security in the Digital Age

Provides an overview of how the Internet and hacking have disrupted international security.

Lecture II: Cyber Security

Investigates how cyber security is achieved within an ever-mutating political and technical environment.

Lecture III: Hackers

Charts the genesis of hacker, from their mid-twentieth century origins to present incarnations.

Lecture IV: Anatomy of Hacking

Dissects how attackers breach networks and achieve their objectives (e.g. disruption, data theft).

Lecture V:  Cyber Espionage

Examines the revolutionary impact cyber has had on espionage, compares traditional and cyber variants, and investigates how the two interact.

Lecture VI: Cyber Warfare

Focuses on cyber-warfare, drawing extensively on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, before imagining the future of warfare in the cyber era.

Lecture VI: Cyber Terrorism

Examines the impact of digital technology on propaganda, financing, recruitment, and operations, before analysing how terrorists are embracing hacking.

Ultimately, the course depicts how international security is evolving in the cyber era.

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