Empirical Approaches to Cyber Conflict

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This session aims to highlight an increasingly diverse set of methodologies used to measure and analyze various aspects of cyber conflict. While states are increasingly adopting cyber means as an important component of their military and political strategy, measuring concepts such as "cyber capability" remains opaque and difficult. Similarly, incidents categorized as "cyber attacks" often conflate events concerning espionage, intrusion, or destructive effects, posing analytical challenges. The papers presented in this session aims to further the empirical study of cyber conflict by suggesting ways to measure relevant concepts and empirically test theories.

Sub Unit

• Division 19: International Security 

Individual Presentations

• Measuring Strategic Culture in Cyberspace - Erica D. Lonergan, United States Military Academy; Jack L. Snyder, Columbia University

• Variation in the Cyber Commitment Problem: A Lab Experiment - Jenny Jun, Columbia University

• The Politics of Diplomacy in Cyberspace - Nadiya Kostyuk, Georgia Institute of Technology; Anita R. Gohdes, Hertie School

• Assessing the Importance of Political Motivations in Ransomware Attacks - Karen Nershi, Stanford University; Shelby Grossman, Stanford University

Chair

• Jon R. Lindsay Georgia Tech

Discussant

• Sanne Cornelia J. Verschuren Stanford University