Cyber

ISRS works on cyber as a domain of strategic competition, not just a technical problem. The distinction matters. Most cybersecurity frameworks are built around defense and compliance. ISRS approaches cyber from an intelligence and strategy perspective: who has what capabilities, how those capabilities are being used or withheld, and what it means for the balance of power between states and between states and non-state actors.

The convergence of low-cost offensive tools, dual-use technology, and degraded norms around state behavior in cyberspace has made cyber one of the most consequential and least well-governed domains in international security. ISRS research and advisory work addresses that gap directly.

What we work on:

Cyber sovereignty and national strategy — helping governments develop coherent frameworks for asserting meaningful control over their digital infrastructure without replicating authoritarian models of control.

Offensive capability assessment — analyzing how state and non-state actors acquire, develop, and deploy cyber capabilities, and what the strategic implications are for partners and adversaries.

Cyber intelligence and fusion — supporting the development of intelligence functions that integrate cyber threat data with broader geopolitical and operational context.

Defense capability development — advising on the architecture, governance, and resourcing of national cyber defense functions.

Deterrence and escalation — examining how deterrence logic applies in the cyber domain, where attribution is contested, thresholds are undefined, and the line between espionage and attack is routinely blurred.