The universe of actors involved in international cybersecurity
includes both state actors and semi- and non-state actors,
including technology companies, state-sponsored hackers, and
cybercriminals. Among these are semi-state actors-actors in a close
relationship with one state who sometimes advance this state's
interests, but are not organizationally integrated into state
functions. In Semi-State Actors in Cybersecurity, Florian J. Egloff
argues that political relations in cyberspace fundamentally involve
concurrent collaboration and competition between states and
semi-state actors. To understand the complex interplay of
cooperation and competition and the power relations that exist
between these actors in international relations, Egloff looks to a
historical analogy: that of mercantile companies, privateers, and
pirates. Pirates, privateers, and mercantile companies were
integral to maritime security between the 16th and 19th centuries.
In fact, privateers and mercantile companies, like today's tech
companies and private cyber contractors, had a particular
relationship to the state in that they conducted state-sanctioned
private attacks against foreign vessels. Pirates, like independent
hackers, were sometimes useful allies, and other times enemies.
These actors traded, explored, plundered, and controlled sea-lanes
and territories across the world's oceans-with state navies lagging
behind, often burdened by hierarchy. Today, as cyberspace is woven
into the fabric of all aspects of society, the provision and
undermining of security in digital spaces has become a new arena
for digital pirates, privateers, and mercantile companies. In
making the analogy to piracy and privateering, Egloff provides a
new understanding of how attackers and defenders use their
proximity to the state politically and offers lessons for
understanding how actors exercise power in cyberspace. Drawing on
historical archival sources, Egloff identifies the parallels
between today's cyber in-security and the historical quest for gold
and glory on the high seas. The book explains what the presence of
semi-state actors means for national and international security,
and how semi-state actors are historically and contemporarily
linked to understandings of statehood, sovereignty, and the
legitimacy of the state.
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