Far from just a domain in which to counter one’s enemies and a weapon to wield against them, Russian political elites view cyberspace as the source of significant threats to Russia’s own national security. Since 2011, when networked protests broke out in multiple Russian cities following controversial parliamentary elections and against the backdrop of the so-called Arab Spring, Russian political elites have articulated their anxieties by constructing three major cyber-threats: that to regime security, that to public safety, and that to societal norms and cohesion. These cyber-security narratives dovetail with broader national security narratives deployed by Russian political elites, reinforcing their messaging on national security issues. Moreover, they increasingly resemble cyber-security debates in North America and Western Europe—to a potentially problematic extent.

Lincoln Pigman will join us at King’s College London to discuss “Cyber-Insecurity in Russia: How Political Elites Talk about Cyber-Threats.” He is a postgraduate student in the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies at Oxford University and an alumnus of the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. In addition, he has reported from Moscow for The New York Times and IHS Jane’s Intelligence Review.

Lincoln will present his latest article: “Russia’s vision of cyberspace: a danger to regime security, public safety, and societal norms and cohesion,” published in the Journal of Cyber Policy. It is open-access and can be read here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23738871.2018.1546884

The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session