Course Syllabus

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Course Assignments:

Access to reading materials: All materials assigned for the course syllabus are available through the Tufts library system. Important note: sometimes the links break. All the items listed are either stored in files on Canvas or, more likely, available through the Tufts library system.  If you find a broken link, do let me know, but also log in to the Tufts library and access the material directly. Thanks.

Assignments:

You will have several short writing assignments and one short paper and lightning presentation. There will not be a final in this course. 

Assignment #0, due January 28 at noon, is a short introductory survey: 1%.

Assignment #1, due February 5 at 5 pm, is a short—750-word—essay on cyber analogies: 6%.

Assignment #2, due February 19 at 5 pm, is a policy brief of 1000 words: 15%.

Assignment #3, due March 12 at 5 pm, is a policy analysis of 1000 words: 15%.

Assignment #4 oral presentation April 4 or 11 (everyone will do one of these two dates), a lightning talk (amount of time TBD, but under 5 minutes) and written presentation due April 2nd 5 pm, a 2500-word analysis discussing the cyber capabilities, vulnerabilities, and threats of a nation we have not studied in class: 30%. If you decide to use slides for the oral presentation, these will be due April 2 or April 9 at 5 pm depending on whether you are speaking April 4 or 11.

Assignment #5: due April 23 at 5 pm  a 1000-word  essay on cyber analogies: 13%.

Class participation: 20%.

Extra Credit: we will be holding a Student Symposium on Cybersecurity Policy on March 31 from 12:30-5 consisting of a panel on Where Cybersecurity Policy is Going, two student papers with discussants, and a keynote by  Sharon Bradford Franklin, Chair of the U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. Attending and writing a short reflection piece—1-2 paragraphs on two of the four presentations (the panel and a student paper OR a student paper and the keynote)—can be done for extra credit (4% of grade).

Syllabus:

Important Note: While assignments and order of classes are fixed, I may add reading assignments. Be sure to check the reading the week before to see if there are any updates.

 

January 24: Introduction to the Conundrum: Why is it that thirty-five years after the first cyber exploit, cyber incidents are growing more serious? More pointedly, what are the causes for the failure to reach international agreements on securing aspects of our digital infrastructure? Today's class will provide an overview of the technical, political, and economic reasons behind the world's growing cyber conflict.

January 31: History of Attacks:  What is the nature of cyberconflict? What did "attacks" look like during the initial period (1986-2010) of cyberconflict? What were nation-state responses? Were they appropriate? In what ways did international international cyberconflict change over the 2010s? What caused these changes? What does that bode for the future?

Readings:

 

February 7: The Technical Side of Cyberweapons:  How do cyberweapons work? What role do vulnerabilities play? How is their use controlled? Is the use of vulnerabilities really controlled?  How did we end up here?

 

February 14: Laws and Norms with Guest speaker: Fletcher's Tom Dannenbaum on International Humanitarian Law: Why have law and norms failed to provide protection against cyber exploits and attacks? is the flaw in policy? Is the failure a result of the technology? Or something else?

 

February 21: The US Perspective: What has been the development of US cyber strategy? What is current strategy? Is this strategy likely to be successful?—and what does success actually mean?

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February 28: The Russian Perspective: Both Russia and China seek to focus on "information security" rather than "cyber security." What's the distinction and why is it important? Both Russia and China entered the cyber domain significantly later than the United States, yet seem to have succeeded in "attacking" the U.S. Does that mean US policy "failed"? We'll start by looking at Russia.

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March 7: China's Cyber Activity: China is an emerging power. Thirty years ago, the discussion of China as a cyberpower did not seem plausible, but in ensuing decades, the nation has developed various types of capabilities and uses them for various purposes. What is China's long-term strategy and how does cyber fit into it?

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March 14: Perspectives from other nations: What do North Korea, Iran, and Israel hope to accomplish in cyber? What level of capabilities do they need to do so?

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March 21: Spring break: No class.

 

March 28: The role of non-state actors and attribution: What type of roles do non-state actors play? How does one determine if these are proxies or independent actors? What impact do they have on state actions in cyber? How capable are states of controlling such adversaries? Why is attribution hard? What makes it possible? Guest speaker: Gabriella Coleman.

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April 4:  First half of class: Deterrence: Can deterrence theory apply within the cyber domain? 

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Second half of class: Lightning Talks.

 

April 11: First half of class: Cyber Conflict "Off the Battlefield": With its peculiar mix of private and public sector control, international cyber conflict plays out in multiple domains, including heavily in the private sector. How important to national security are the conflicts over Internet governance, Internet standards, and privacy?

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Second half of class: Lightning Talks.

 

April 18: The Role of Policy and Ethics in Cyber Conflict: Cyber is a mixed battlefield. Stuxnet leaked out of Natanz. While it didn't destroy equipment elsewhere, its capabilities were duly noted—and the cyber arms race escalated. NotPetya destroyed infrastructure not just in Ukraine but around the world. A civil-sector company, Solar Wind, was used as a vector to exfiltrate and perhaps prepare a battlefield against the U.S. What are a nation's obligations as it develops cyber weapons and attacks? Is a "Digital Geneva Convention" possible? 

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April 25:  Future Technologies—and Other Disruptions from Cyber

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Course Summary:

Date Details Due