Reports
Cybersecurity of the civil nuclear sector
This report from UK think tank Chatham House considers the evolving cyberthreats that the civil nuclear sector faces both in peacetime and during conflict. A combination of factors – from energy security and decarbonization agendas to the emergence of small modular reactors (SMRs) that potentially make nuclear energy more accessible – are prompting many countries...
A principles-based approach to cyber capacity-building (CCB)
This report from UK think tank Chatham House illustrates how a principles-based approach may inform the design, implementation and evaluation of a cyber capacity-building project. In 2021, members of the UN Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) agreed 10 principles for cyber capacity-building (CCB). However, to date, the principles have not had the impact that was expected...
The role of the private sector in combatting gendered cyber harms
This report from UK think tank Chatham House looks at how private sector technologies can both endanger and advance gender-transformative cybersecurity. Technologies developed by the private sector play a crucial part in generating, enabling and mitigating gendered cyber harms. They incorporate explicit and implicit gendered structures, ideals and assumptions, which are then propagated and reinforced...
Gendered hate speech, data breach and state overreach
This report from UK think tank Chatham House Identifies the connections between gendered cyber harms to shape better policy responses. Cybersecurity is not only concerned with the essential work of protecting information and communications technologies. It is also about keeping all users safe in cyberspace from cybercrimes, data and privacy violations, harmful and abusive content,...
Countermeasures in international law and their role in cyberspace
This report from UK think tank Chatham House explores the conditions under which countermeasures may be taken in cyberspace in line with customary international law. The emergence of information and communications technologies has reignited debates about how and when countermeasures can be used in cyberspace. Countermeasures are a well-established response mechanism available to states against...
Disabling the enablers of sanctions circumvention
This report from UK think tank RUSI illustrates how fundamental policy and practice gaps allow enablers to improperly protect assets and interests from sanctions. This brief analyses a sample of over 100 relevant recent investigative reports, by OCCRP and other media outlets, on Russian and Belarusian individuals and entities who have been aided by professional service...
Data Protection and Digital Information Bill
This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation argues that the Bill is a threat to fair markets and open public services. The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, currently at Committee stage in the House of Lords, is set to undermine vital rights that protect vulnerable consumers and help workers understand how...
Unfreezing the Abraham Accords
This report from UK think tank the Henry Jackson Society looks at a new transatlantic strategy for greater peace, stability and integration in the Middle East. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine triggered the largest war in Europe since World War II. The invasion also marked the first all-out cyber war between two nation-states, as Russia...
Lessons from the first cyberwar
This report from UK think tank the Henry Jackson Society looks at how supporting Ukraine on the digital battlefield can help improve the UK’s online resilience. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine triggered the largest war in Europe since World War II. The invasion also marked the first all-out cyber war between two nation-states, as Russia...
Ransomware
This report from UK think tank RUSI outlines the harms ransomware causes to organisations, individuals, the UK economy, national security and wider society. The latest report from RUSI’s Cyber Research Group, titled “The Scourge of Ransomware”, outlines the harm ransomware causes to organisations, individuals, the UK economy, national security and wider society. Drawing on interviews...
Saving the golden goose
This report from UK think tank the Adam Smith Institute recommends that the UK's position as the most respected crypto regulatory space in the world should be protected. The UK should avoid copying the US securitarian model from crypto and digital assets. If the Prime Minister wishes to achieve his stated goal to make the...
Towards a global approach to digital platform regulation
This report from UK think tank Chatham House defines and details a set of current trends in platform regulation. After decades of reluctance, governments around the world are moving to regulate, and more actively direct, digital platforms in an effort to tackle perceived harms and to strengthen state oversight and control. Digital sovereignty is emerging...
Falling behind? The UK’s high-value public datasets
This report from UK think tank the Centre for Public Data calls for the UK government to make their high-value datasets freely available. High-value public data is basic infrastructure for the modern world. Good data on buildings, for example, helps everyone from the fire engine crew saving lives, to the start-up building better boilers. And...
Pension power
This report from UK think tank Onward explores why the UK pension system under-invests in the tech sector and what can be done to address this. The UK has a chronic pension investment problem, leaving British innovators cash-strapped and preventing savers from cashing in on successful start-ups. Britons’ retirement savings make up a mere 10%...
Fraudulent times
This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation argues that a more concerted and long-term effort against fraud is needed. We are in the midst of a fraud emergency, but efforts to tackle it have consistently fallen short of reversing its growth in recent years. This report argues that a more concerted and...