Like in any other European state, cybersecurity has grown in importance in Swiss politics. And although Switzerland’s cybersecurity and defense policies are still a work in progress, the nation has made tremendous efforts in getting cybersecurity policies, roles, and responsibilities right.
Michael Warner, the Cyber Command Historian at the U.S. Department of Defense, outlined the main theoretical insights for American policy-makers and officials: Computers can spill sensitive data and must be guarded (1960s); Computers can be attacked and data stolen (1970s); We can build computer attacks into military arsenals (1980s and 1990s); Others might do that to us – and perhaps already are (1990s). But new opportunities to exploit vulnerabilities make this a challenging field.
Policy Highlights: Austria’s National Military Cyber Defense Policy Within a Whole-of-Government Context
The “Austrian Security Strategy: Security for a New Decade – Shaping Security,” adopted by the Austrian National Council in 2013 (ÖSS 2013) was followed in the same year by the “Austrian Cyber Security Strategy” (ÖSCS 2013), which was produced in accordance with the ÖSS. Both documents were developed at the national level.
In Germany, the provision of cybersecurity—i.e. a condition where risks from cyberspace have been reduced to an acceptable minimum—is a whole-of-government task. This is laid down in the 2016 White Paper, the current basic document on German security policy. There are few areas where internal and external security are as closely intertwined as they are in cyberspace. This includes the joint protection of critical infrastructure.
