Internet Governance in an Age of Cyber Insecurity

Citation: Robert K. Knake, "Internet Governance in an Age of Cyber Insecurity" (Council on Foreign Relations Special Rpt. 56, Sept. 2010).

Overview
This report examines the technological decisions that have enabled both the Internet’s spectacular success and its troubling vulnerability to attack. Arguing that the United States can no longer cede the initiative on cyber issues to countries that do not share its interests, it outlines an agenda that the United States can pursue in concert with its allies on the international stage. This agenda, addressing cyber warfare, cyber crime, and state-sponsored espionage, should be pursued through both technological and legal means. It urges that the United States empower experts to confront the fundamental security issues at the heart of the Internet’s design. Then it sketches the legal tools necessary to address both cyber crime and state-sponsored activities, including national prohibitions of cyber crime, multilateral mechanisms to prevent and prosecute cyberattacks, and peacetime norms protecting critical civilian systems, before describing the bureaucratic reforms the United States should make to implement effectively these changes.