Targeted campaigns by adversarial nation state actors led to the evolution of cyber defense postures – their orientation ranges from more defensive to more offensive.

Japan‘s defensively orientated approach focuses on hardening Japanese IT systems and increasing their resilience. The Dutch cyber defense posture is geared toward counter-intelligence efforts both at home and abroad to spoil adversarial campaigns. By conducting operations in adversarial networks, the US strategy of persistent engagement proactively seeks to create friction within adversarial operations.

Common to the three approaches is that the tasks of the military and (civilian) intelligence agencies overlap – the trend is toward organizational integration and joint operations.

Currently none of the considered countries has found an effective and coherent approach to address all state sponsored malicious cyber activities yet. Therefore, continuous experimentation and a willingness to adapt and learn remains key to better defend the homeland in cyberspace.

Read the entire “Facts and Findings” here as a PDF.