King's College London

Cyber Statecraft in an Age of Systemic Competition (CyCRAFT) is a two-year research project funded by Dstl through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Led by Dr Tim Stevens, the project is a collaboration between KCL, University of Bath and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), with the support of the UK Research Institute for Sociotechnical Cyber Security (RISCS).

Pillar 4 of the National Cyber Strategy 2022, ‘Global Leadership’, articulates the UK’s aim to exert influence in international cyber security based on liberal democratic values. This is a bold ambition. To achieve it, the UK needs to set clear objectives and embrace ‘cyber statecraft’, understood generically as strategic approaches for securing the national interest in and through cyberspace, using all levers of national power and marshalling the private sector and civil society in a ‘whole-of-society’ effort.

However, questions and challenges persist about how to conduct cyber statecraft in an impactful way. Creating a more solid conceptual and empirical basis for cyber statecraft and cyber power is therefore essential to the UK’s efforts to create to shape global cyber security and governance. This project will establish a nationally important body of work that feeds directly into government and multistakeholder conversations and decision-making about the international aspects of UK cyber statecraft. Working with a diverse range of partners, the project team will deliver impactful research to academia, UK government and wider society, informing policy and future research on best practices and competing approaches to cyber statecraft in an era of systemic competition.