“Former Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco said that ‘if you look at the threat actors as basically aligned in a drag race—nation-states, non-state actors, hacktivists, criminal groups—my sense is that the nation-states have far and away set themselves apart,’ adding that they are ‘increasingly using cyber means as a tool of geopolitical one-upsmanship.’ Examples such as Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections attest to that point and show that operational sophistication and tradecraft has improved… This increased sophistication has triggered companies to set up small intelligence agencies that track and stop foreign intelligence agencies in order to protect individuals on their platforms, Monaco said. In some cases, it has resulted in these companies becoming the most effective responders to these threats…

“Clear global norms around cybersecurity are needed. Former Obama White House Deputy National Security Advisor Avril Haines explained the difficulties, but slow advancements, in creating legal and normative frameworks for cyberspace and drew comparative examples of how long it took in other domains (e.g., UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the agreement that governs maritime matters, took hundreds of years to develop). Haines emphasized that there are a lot of challenges, specific to cyber, in building this kind of normative framework, highlighting actions with other stakeholders that can help promote norms…”

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