Cybersecurity is a team sport

[Commentary] The United States Department of Defense released a new cyberstrategy on April 23, revealing how the US views cybersecurity in the post-Snowden era. One trend is immediately clear: The strategic use of cyberspace to pursue political goals and seek geostrategic advantage is rapidly increasing in today’s world. The new cyberstrategy represents a big step forward in the global cyber policy and military debate. It is far more comprehensive and transparent than its predecessor, which debuted in 2011. The world’s most technologically advanced nation wants to be more transparent about its military doctrine, policy, roles, and missions in cyberspace, which makes the strategy interesting to read and evaluate -- outside of the US.

The US is ahead of Europe when it comes to integrating cybersecurity into its foreign and security policies. Europe would be foolish not to follow and learn from its example. As with most security issues, there are signs that in cybersecurity the default behavior for most European countries seems to be to follow the US approach. For the US, the biggest challenges at the moment are: updating all legal frameworks, strengthening cyber rules of engagement for the military, building cyber deterrents, and clarifying the roles and cooperation of the government and private sector.

[Jarno Limnéll is a professor of cybersecurity at Finland's Aalto University]