Cyber Warfare

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The Intelligence Community Doesn't Warn About All Attacks Against the U.S. Homeland. Why Not?

Targets for foreign threats against the United States increasingly include entities that are not part of the U.S. government or military. But too many of these potential victims are unaware of threats against them, are not warned with intelligence reporting about such threats, and lack information about options to protect themselves.

Cortney Weinbaum @cortney_dc

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How Data Can Help Refugees, Homelessness in L.A., Harm Reduction: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on tapping into Facebook data to help refugees, addressing homelessness in Los Angeles, understanding burnout among health care providers, and more.

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Responding to Russian Cyberattacks, Rebuilding Ukraine, Climate Change: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on how the U.S. could respond to Russian cyberattacks, what it will take to rebuild Ukraine after the war, why U.S. employers still have the power over workers, and more.

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Preparing for a Cyberattack Starts at the Local Level

The ongoing Russian war in Ukraine has highlighted the need for federal, state, and local level emergency managers to prepare to respond to a cyberattack with widespread impacts that significantly disrupt critical infrastructure.

Clara Decerbo, Grace Hindmarch, et al.

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Russian Cyberattacks May Be Coming. What Might Be an Optimal Strategy for Responding?

Russia appears poised to make a first move against the United States and its allies in cyberspace. A savvy U.S. response that is deliberately measured and accompanied by the right message could end this fight after the first round.

Dmitri Alperovitch, Samuel Charap @scharap

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Don't Sleep on Russian Information War Capabilities

Ukraine looks to have Russia beat in countering Russian disinformation. But this is only part of the story. Instead of fixating on Russia's missteps, policymakers and analysts would benefit from studying Ukraine's sophisticated information campaign while bearing in mind that Russia retains significant information warfare capabilities and a willingness to use them.

Alyssa Demus, Christopher Paul

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RAND Commentary Highlights of 2021

Vaccine rollouts, an attack on the U.S. Capitol, massive ransomware attacks, the withdrawal from Afghanistan, record numbers of job openings and people quitting, and more. RAND researchers weighed in on all these topics and more.

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How the United States Can Deter Ransomware Attacks

To rein in ransomware attacks, the United States needs to upend the risk-reward ratio for hackers and for the countries that harbor or support them. Such a strategy would make networks harder to breach, hit back harder against hackers, and claw back gains from those who succeed.

Jonathan W. Welburn @jwwelburn, Quentin E. Hodgson @QHodgson

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Is DarkSide Really Sorry? Is It Even DarkSide?

The U.S. military relies heavily on commercial energy assets, making the implications of events like the Colonial Pipeline outage more serious than just higher prices at the gas pump. The origins and severity of an attack dictate what the United States might do in response.

Anu Narayanan, Jonathan W. Welburn @jwwelburn

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Pandemic Education, Working Mothers, Predicting Cyber Threats: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the urban-rural divide in pandemic education, supporting working moms, what makes a good COVID-19 reopening plan, and more.

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How You Can Fight Russia's Plans to Troll Americans During Campaign 2020

The goal of Russian interference is to trigger emotional reactions and drive people to ideological extremes, making it nearly impossible to build a consensus. But Americans are less likely to have their emotions manipulated if they are aware that manipulation is the goal.

Marek N. Posard @mnposard, James V. Marrone, et al.

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Virtual Societal Warfare, Iran, Opioids: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the risk of virtual societal welfare, Iran's domestic debates, federal policy options for supervised consumption sites, and more.

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What Translation Troubles Can Tell Us About Russian Information Warfare

Moscow's form of information warfare targeting the West has attracted significant international attention since 2014, especially through its reinvigorated military intelligence branch. Nonetheless, little research has focused on these campaigns' apparent shortcomings. Most notable among operational errors are the confusing translation mistakes that undermine attempts at covert influence efforts.

Joe Cheravitch

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E-Cigarettes, 'Stand Your Ground,' Cyber Coercion: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the planned federal ban on flavored e-cigarettes, “stand your ground” laws, understanding cyber coercion, and more.

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Social Manipulation, Boko Haram, Citizen Scientists: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap looks at hostile social manipulation, stopping the next Boko Haram, a citizen-science success story, and more.