DECISIVE DIPLOMACY IN THE DIGITAL DOMAIN: CYBER THREATS FROM A DIPLOMATIC PERSPECTIVE
Speaker: Willem van Diesen, International Cyber Policy Officer – Directorate for Security Policy.
Affiliation: Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Summary: Cyber operations usually fall below the legal threshold of armed conflict. In a world of constant geopolitical competition, cyber threats make our world increasingly grey. Lots of actors make use of that fact; the reason why these grey zone-actors succeed is exactly because the zone is grey. So as diplomats, we sometimes like to turn on the light. The seminar will introduce the tools that diplomats have to address cyber threats and will shed light on the nature of the threat we face.
Biography: Willem van Diesen is a Policy Officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands. As part of the Taskforce International Cyber Policy, Willem spends his time working on addressing the cyber threat with diplomatic means, including attribution. In the last year, Willem was also involved in setting up the Tallinn Mechanism, a coordination mechanism for cyber-support to Ukraine. Before working on cyber diplomacy, Willem was part of the Dutch MFA’s EU-directorate. Willem holds degrees from University College Maastricht as well as Leiden University, focusing primarily on international relations, international security and the EU.
Registration: This seminar is restricted to the students and alumni of the Master's Degree in Cybersecurity.