Welcome!
To the International Cybersecurity Research Focus at the IFSH.

Scientific Research on Cyber & Cognitive Conflict
Deepen your understanding of global cyber conflicts and their impact on security and politics.

Knowledge Transfer & Policy Work
We work to raise awareness, inform public opinion, and cooperate closely with policymakers and stakeholders.

Annual “Shaping Cybersecurity” Conference
We co-organize yearly conference on cybersecurity, bringing together international experts and policymakers.
News
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Peer-reviewed article on regulating deepfakes in the AI Act
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Policy commentary on synthetic media and its influence on political advertising
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Peer-reviewed paper on Cyber Operations in the Wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip published
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Webinar at Nottingham Trent University
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Conference in King’s College in London
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Annual Peace Report published!
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Article on Cyber- and Information-Wars in “Auftrag”
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Matthias at the symposium of Evangelic Church in Germany
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Matthias interviewed by LOAD e.V.
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Our workshop on cybersecurity and cognitive warfare
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Shaping Cybersecurity 2025: „Stronger Together: Cyber Capabilities for vigilant Democracies”
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OpEd on US tech-authoritarianism and EU dependencies by Heise.de
Research Topics

Cyber Conflict
Cyber conflict & the use of offensive cyber operations or active cyber defence as an element of International Relations. Governance of the cyber domain: cyber norms, confidence building measures and international law.

Cyber-Security & Strategies
Cybersecurity & cyber defence best-practices: vulnerability disclosure, cyber ranges, bug bounties and the evolution of security controls. Peace and security implications of the cybercrime ecosystem & ransomware. Analysing cyber strategies of allies and adversaries.

Hybrid Threats & Information Warfare
Information warfare, cognitive threats, memetic warfare and the use of synthetic media to influence democracies.
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Cyber & Cognitive Conflict Compass (C4) Substack
Weekly update on cyber and information warfare events around the globe, cyber-policy developments, new academic papers, and noteworthy IT-security news. Hosted via Substack.
Project & Website updates
Sign up to receive updates from the ICS projects, conference and workshop invitations, and updates from this website.