Dr Lucas Kello’s book on challenges the West faces in dealing with cyberthreats praised by top science journal

Striking Back: The End of Peace in Cyberspace - And How to Restore It, by Dr Lucas Kello has been named one of the best new science books by the prestigious multidisciplinary science journal Nature. This recognition comes shortly after the book was also named one of the best politics books by The Financial Times.

The book–published by Yale University Press last autumn–explores the difficulties of Western security strategists in responding to unprecedented threats from challenger states – especially Russia and China – in cyberspace and other technological arenas.

These threats include hacking of democratic election systems, disruptive social media campaigns, and penetration of government and economic infrastructures.

The book proposes a bold new strategy in addressing these threats – ‘punctuated deterrence’ – the basic premise of which is to respond to a series of attacks and their cumulative effects, rather than responding to individual attacks, as envisaged in classical deterrence theory. It also recommends the use of technological innovations, such as ‘data embassies’, to back up essential governmental data and systems.

Dr Kello said: “As an author, it's always gratifying to receive public recognition from prestigious scientific outlets and the media – most importantly because this helps to disseminate the policy-relevant findings of one's work.

“And as Striking Back argues, there's enormous room for improvement in the design of cyber strategy."

Dr Kello is currently working with researchers in DPIR, the Said Business School, and other departments to develop a project on global space governance. This effort is part of the Social Sciences Division's "Oxford Space Initiative", which he co-founded with Dr Marc Ventresca.