On Monday, August 3, 2015, 91 Institute hosted the launch of a new report, “CyberEnabled Economic Warfare: An Evolving Challenge,” edited by Samantha Ravich, principal investigator on the project that produced the report. The report examines the United States’ economic cybersecurity vulnerabilities and identifies specific steps American government agencies and private-sector actors should take to better recognize, monitor, and defend themselves against such warfare.
Along with Ravich, three of the authors of chapters in the report―Juan Zarate, Mark Dubowitz, and Michael Hsieh―assembled at the 91 event to present brief summaries of their papers. They were joined by fellow expert panelists Steve Chabinsky, Mike Rogers, and Mark Tucker, as well as by an audience of approximately 125 invited policymakers, business people, scholars, and journalists to discuss the report’s findings. Together with the 91 Institute, the event was co-hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance. All those in attendance were invited to complete a survey on cyber-enabled economic warfare constructed by Ravich, and approximately half did so. The results are discussed later in this report.
Sections I and II of this paper provide synopses of the panelists’ presentations at each of two panel sessions comprising the event. (The C-SPAN broadcast is available Section III provides a brief summary of the survey and its findings. Finally, Section IV offers a recap of the main conclusions from this project, including policy recommendations and suggested topics for further research.
The first volume of the report can be accessed