Cyber Threats Programme
Analysing the types of cyber threats facing societies and identifying how to mitigate them.
Cyber attacks present a persistent threat to the whole of society. Hostile actors include nation-states, organised crime groups, hacktivists and skilled individuals. Threat actors have diverse motivations too, from economic espionage and geopolitical objectives to financial gain, or even just a sense of personal achievement. Cyber attack types are similarly diverse, including ransomware, Distributed-Denial-of-Service attacks, cyber fraud and business email compromise. The threat landscape remains complex, and is at times hard to grasp fully.
For victims, cyber threats lead to significant human cost. Financially motivated cybercrime disproportionately affects vulnerable people; attacks like ransomware can regularly shut down small businesses; and hacking campaigns can paralyse the delivery of government social services. RUSI’s research examines various types of cyber threat. We work with threat intelligence partners to understand the threat, while proposing policy solutions to reduce it.
