U.N. Institute for Disarmament

Published purpose

This project will combine traditional research with on-site participatory activities for the benefit of policy makers, as well as other relevant stakeholders including civil society, industry and expert community, in recipient countries. This project will focus on the following specific threats: 1. Proliferation of cyber vulnerabilities, exploitation kits, and tools and resources to conduct malicious cyber activities, including on the dark web. 2. Cyber threats and risks to national and regional critical infrastructure, including critical information infrastructure, and critical services. 3. Gendered impacts of cyber-attacks such as denial of service targeting State services and data breaches. After the initial research phase UNIDIR will conduct the following activities; 1. Scenario-based table-top exercise on the management at the policy and practitioner level of a cyber attack, including its gendered impacts. 2. National-threat assessment leveraging UNIDIR’s taxonomy of malicious ICT incidents with a view to develop a refined understanding of specific national cybersecurity threats and how they affect various segments of society. 3. Baseline assessment of national capabilities relevant for addressing identified threats conducted with the support of UNIDIR’s Foundational Cyber Capabilities tools. Road-mapping exercise building on the outcomes of the baseline assessment to identify and plan follow-up actions in the short-, medium-, and long term.