Covert cyber operations are central to state competition, yet scholars disagree whether they are intelligence contests or tools of strategic competition. In a new article in the Journal of Strategic Studies, SIS Professor William Akoto develops an Intelligence-Driven Strategic Competition (IDSC) framework that treats cyber conflict as an intelligence contest in which some campaigns are organized to generate cumulative, strategically meaningful costs.

Through case analysis of multiple state-sponsored cyber campaigns including the Stuxnet attack on Iran’s nuclear program, Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election, and Chinese cyber-espionage aimed at economic and military advantage, Akoto shows how intelligence practices fuse with strategic aims and why their cumulative impact varies. The framework bridges existing literatures, with important implications for deterrence, persistent engagement practices and cyber resilience.

Read the full article here.