Cyber and International Security

Area of Interest: Cyber Security, International Relations, Security Studies.

Course Summary

This program is designed to provide learners with an understanding of cybersecurity from the perspective of the international strategic environment. It will explore key issues in the development and use of cyber tactics in international relations, in peacetime and a wartime context.

The course is also designed to give participants an understanding of the most significant driver of international security in the twenty-first century, that is the strategic competition between the United States and China. It will examine the strategic environment in that context and provide a perspective of the role cyberspace plays.

Throughout the program, learners will engage with key problems in the international strategic environment relating to cyberspace and cyber technology and tactics and develop an understanding of what these challenges are, how they are being approached currently and how they might be addressed in the future.

Duration: 3 Days

Delivery Mode: On-campus.

Core topics

This course is broken into the following core learning topics:

• The human side of cybersecurity
• Cyber governance in the international system
• Cyber in the context of Sino-US strategic competition
• Cyber threats to national security and the future of warfare

Learning Outcomes

By completing this course, learners will be able to:

• Identify some key international relations tactics and how cyber is used in them.
• Define cybersecurity in a human-social context.
• Describe key elements of US-China Strategic competition from a cybersecurity context.
• Explain the impact of Sino-US competition in cyberspace on other key international players.
• Examine how cyber technology interacts with international relations and security.
• Investigate future cyber policy in the context of the current strategic environment.

Who should attend

This course will most benefit those wanting to gain an understanding of the current strategic context for cybersecurity and cyber policy and how cyberattacks and cyber-enabled tactics in international relations are utilised in the US-China strategic competition.

The course is particularly beneficial to those in roles (such as in Defence, the intelligence community, and the Australian public service) who would benefit from a deeper understanding of cyber elements of national security and the strategic environment Australia is operating in.

What will you receive

• Comprehensive set of learning materials
• UNSW Canberra certificate of completion/attendance

Instructors

Dr Sally Burt has a PhD in Sino-US diplomatic history from the Australian National University. Sally brings this expertise to her research and analysis of the diplomatic context of cyber relations and diplomacy, the development of international cyber norms, the strategic use of information warfare and influence operations.

She also examines the use of cyber-enabled as well as traditional coercion and deterrence in conflict and as measures short of war. She has published books, journal articles, reports and on online forums and has been spoken at international symposia and conferences.