Managing cyber security in peace operations

Direct attacks using digital tools or those staged in cyber space are linked to peace operations in two ways. On the one hand, cyber security has become as serious a protection issue — of mission staff, assets and reputation — for the UN, EU and OSCE as it has for the rest of the world. Peacekeeping actors have been threatened, for example, by disinformation or anti-UN campaigns on social media in the Central African Republic or the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On the other hand, attacks can have a destabilising effect on the conflict environment — for instance, where fake news or hate speech is spread, public information manipulated, or critical infrastructure attacked in an already volatile (post-)conflict context. (Image: Unsplash | Guillaume Bourdages)

Contributions

Managing cyber security in peace operations Deploying CSDP missions to counter hybrid threats – EUPM Moldova: first of its kind

In 2018, the first EU Civilian CSDP Compact created the possibility of mandating missions to respond to hybrid threats. Then, in April 2023, the EU Partnership Mission in the Republic of Moldova (EUPM Moldova) became the first CSDP mission with a mandate in the area of hybrid threats. The comparatively small mission is above all a political signal. However, it can be assumed that these types of tasks will increasingly be included in the mandates of peace operations in the future.

| Monika Benkler
Managing cyber security in peace operations A policy response to foreign information manipulation’s impact on civilian CSDP missions

Hybrid threats are an increasingly complex security challenge for the EU, also affecting its civilian CSDP missions. Malign actors target the EU at large and aim to derail EU’s global engagement, not least through information manipulation. Both the EU’s Strategic Compass and the Civilian CSDP Compact have recognised the challenge and led to initiatives to tackle hybrid threats including toolboxes and response teams.

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Managing cyber security in peace operations How NATO Can Respond to Hybrid Challenges

NATO is based on traditional notions of deterrence and defence against armed attack. These notions are giving way to a complex mix of military and non-military threats that can also affect societies from within. The “hybrid” combination of military and non-military tools creates ambiguity that makes decision-taking by consensus much harder. Here are ten recommendations for how the organisation can respond to hybrid challenges.

| Michael Rühle
Managing cyber security in peace operations The future of cyberspace – a domain for conflict or collaboration?

Increased reliance on digital technology has had a tremendous transformative effect. While there are clear advances with regard to digital collaboration and exchange, Cyberspace has quietly emerged as a distinct “fifth domain” of conflict over the last 20 years – affecting developed and developing, conflict-ridden and peaceful societies alike. Rules of engagement are urgently needed but difficult to agree on – not least because the transnational nature of cyber threats is at odds with traditional state-to-state mechanisms of negotiation and decision-making. Recent attacks have led to some momentum in this process, but to be effective and sustainable international governance architecture needs to be revamped to include a wider spectrum of stakeholders in new systems and structures.

| Kaja Ciglic & John Hering