Cybersecurity : Governance of a New Technology

This paper is a meta-analysis of national case studies of the governance of cybersecurity in Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom. It examines its meanings in antitrust, crime, defence, intelligence, privacy, etc. It considers how governments and parliaments have responded to the challenges of sophisticated technological threats that span "all of government", its agencies and contractors, businesses, third sector organisations and individual citizens. Cybersecurity requires joined-up coordination across many departments and often must be rapid (e.g., in the UK COBR coordinated work against WannaCry malware). Yet the threats are invisible and partly unknowable, until an attack. The emphasis on digital inclusion, of bringing everyone online, to boost economic growth and cut administrative costs, necessitate cybersecurity measures by governments, banks, e-commerce firms, etc. Government increasingly encourage individuals and organisations to act to bolster their own cybersecurity, for example, improving weak passwords at the House of Commons that had facilitated a Chinese cyberattack. Network governance helps analyse work on cybersecurity through UN, EU, NATO, and 'Five Eyes', as well as arrangements within federal states and the UK. The regulatory state is used to analyse how governments use independent agencies and markets for cybersecurity. Its complexity tests parliaments in their ability to deliver accountability, given the pace of change and the complexity