Examining the foundations of the internet

The internet has been a pivotal force behind the growth of the global digital economy and altered the relationship among states, their citizens, and the private sector. These changes have disrupted the geopolitical balance of power and ushered in a new generation of globally-powerful multinational companies. However, new dynamics of conflict are threatening the internet as we know it, from the hardware connecting users to the policies governing content and data provenance.

A Parallel Terrain: Public-Private Defense of the Ukrainian Information Environment

Cord-Cutting, Russian Style: Could the Kremlin Sever Global Internet Cables?

This Year, Russia’s Internet Crackdown will be Even Worse

Improving Cybersecurity Outcomes in the Telecommunications Sector

How Russia Made Apple and Google Complicit in its Internet Crackdown

Cyber Defense across the Ocean Floor: The Geopolitics of Submarine Cable Security

Reassessing RuNet: Russian Internet Isolation and Implications for Russian Cyber Behavior

Huawei’s Push in Russia Exploits Kremlin Fears of Western Technology

The Politics of Internet Security: Private Industry and the Future of the Web

Warring for the Soul of the Internet: Ten Years On

The Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative, under the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), works at the nexus of geopolitics and cybersecurity to craft strategies to help shape the conduct of statecraft and to better inform and secure users of technology.

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Telecomms and the Internet

#AtlanticDebrief - How will the OSA be implemented? | A Debrief from Melanie Dawes

Fri, Dec 1, 2023

#AtlanticDebrief – How will the OSA be implemented? | A Debrief from Melanie Dawes

An #AtlanticDebrief with Ofcom Chief Executive Dame Melanie Dawes covering the Online Safety Act and regulatory guidance on illegal harms. In partnership with the Atlantic Council's Europe Center.

by Digital Forensic Research Lab

Cyber Strategy Digital Policy
A wounded woman uses a phone at Nasser Hospital after an airstrike in the city of Khan Yunis, amid the continuing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement.

Fri, Nov 3, 2023

How information travels during Gaza’s communications blackouts

People in Gaza turn to eSIMS and other solutions amid cellular and internet outages

by Layla Mashkoor

Critical Infrastructure Policy Gaza
An image of browser icons for Edge, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Brave browsers

Mon, Oct 30, 2023

Homogeneity and Concentration in the Browser

Web browsers are the gateway to the internet. As browser developers replicate design features and concentrate around shared underlying technologies, they create cybersecurity risks with the potential to impact many internet users at once.

by Justin Sherman and Jessica Edelson

Cybersecurity Telecomms and the Internet

Mon, Feb 27, 2023

A Parallel Terrain: Public-Private Defense of the Ukrainian Information Environment

The information environment is a key domain through which the war in Ukraine is being contested. By better understanding the key role that private tech companies play in this domain, the USs and Ukraine can better prepare for future threats.

by Emma Schroeder and Sean Dack

Conflict Conflict in and through the Cyber Domain