I’m happy to be starting as a blogger for FPA. When I started researching cybersecurity in my first year of grad school, I didn’t quite know what I’d gotten myself in to. I hadn’t learned that saying “I’m writing my master’s thesis on cybersecurity” is akin to saying “I’m writing my thesis about the United States.” Often, bringing up my thesis got one of three reactions. People who were totally unfamiliar with cyber would give a blank stare (“Good for you, dear.”) Specialists in the field would give sort of a sad, pitying look that clearly said: “You have no idea how broad that is, do you?” The third reaction, from the more professorial type, was something like “Are you planning on writing a Ph.D. dissertation?” (Perhaps a book. Or an encyclopedia.)
The reality is that ‘cybersecurity’ is a huge field. When I tutor students about how to write, I tell them to picture a funnel – start with your broad topic and narrow it down to a fine point. Policy and discourse on cyber is still somewhere near the top of the funnel. But it’s surprisingly accessible. Even for those of us who don’t have highly technical backgrounds. In fact, the international relations aspect of cybersecurity is fascinating. Recent reports that China managed to secretly reroute 15 percent of world internet traffic through their information infrastructure highlights the fact that the discussion is coming none-to-early. There are reports that Russia is developing it’s own Silicon Valley, which could be good economically but would also enhance Russia’s cyber warfare capabilities. It is often quoted that the internet was developed more for interoperability than to address security concerns. The silver lining? Russia is still expanding its tech industry. New technological developments, such as the adoption of iPv6 have yet to take hold. The field is still growing and evolving. This means that there is still room (to a certain extent) to get in at the ground level.
