Binding Hook

China’s attribution strategy has changed; it’s time for us to catch up To effectively counter Chinese efforts, Western countries and their partners must adapt by expanding joint attribution, broadening global audiences, and pre-empting disinformation narratives.

Just as China’s approach to cyber operations has developed, so has its counter-attribution strategy. Western attribution strategies haven’t kept pace, argues @weberv.bsky.social in his latest for Binding Hook: bindinghook.com/chinas-attri...

India and Indonesia’s approach to publicly attributing cyberattacks? No naming, no shaming India and Indonesia’s reticent approach to publicly attributing cyberattacks is the result of strategic culture, insufficient technical capacity, and the lack of clear returns

Once hesitant, ‘middle powers’ like Singapore are now naming cyber actors, reshaping regional norms once dominated by Western nations. Arindrajit Basu and Gatra Priyandita look the exceptions: bindinghook.com/india-and-in...

YouTube video by Virtual Routes This was Binding Hook Live!

🙌 This was Binding Hook Live — a day filled with incredible conversations and discussions on and off stage. Read more insights from Binding Hook Live by our Managing Editors James Shires and @maxwsmeets.bsky.social: bindinghook.com/insights-fro...

🎞️ youtu.be/MOr-eZ_IJfo?...

Balancing external pressures and internal restraints, Japan turns toward active defence Japan’s efforts to establish comprehensive cyber policy frameworks have not yet fully translated into effective external threat responses.

Despite progress in #cyberresilience, Japan’s constitutional limits and pacifist strategic culture still restrain fully offensive cyber operations. Read more from Abhishek Sharma: bindinghook.com/balancing-ex...

Why don’t small and medium UK enterprises buy cyber insurance? Recent research shows that SMEs are unaware of, and confused by cyber insurance, in addition to facing financial and technological constraints.

Research recently commissioned by UK's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology found that small- and medium-sized enterprises have a variety of reasons for not purchasing #cyberinsurance. What can be done to address this? bindinghook.com/why-dont-sma...

India and Indonesia’s approach to publicly attributing cyberattacks? No naming, no shaming India and Indonesia’s reticent approach to publicly attributing cyberattacks is the result of strategic culture, insufficient technical capacity, and the lack of clear returns

An interesting article talking about public attribution and the lack thereof in Indonesia and India on @bindinghook.bsky.social.

bindinghook.com/india-and-in...

India and Indonesia’s approach to publicly attributing cyberattacks? No naming, no shaming India and Indonesia’s reticent approach to publicly attributing cyberattacks is the result of strategic culture, insufficient technical capacity, and the lack of clear returns

And second, they examine Indonesia and India’s somewhat hesitant approaches to attributing cyber operations in a world where more and more countries are taking stronger stands against cyber adversaries: bindinghook.com/india-and-in...

India and Indonesia are managing cyber strategy and cyber diplomacy on their own terms Countries across the world are looking to clearly articulate their national cyber strategies and establish cyber envoys. Why have two increasingly important global players refrained from following sui...

First, the authors analyse the reasoning behind the countries’ non-committal and flexible approaches to creating formal cyber strategies and designating official cyber ambassadors: bindinghook.com/india-and-in...

Today Binding Hook is taking a deeper look at Indian and Indonesian approaches to cyber with a pair of articles by Arindrajit Basu and Gatra Priyandita on #cyberstrategies, #cyberdiplomacy, and #attribution.

You like to read tech-related fiction? Until tomorrow, you can suggest a book for the 2025 @bindinghook.bsky.social Tech Fiction Reading List!

For inspiration, check out last year's list: bindinghook.com/its-the-most...

All English-language books published in 2021 or later qualify.

Insights from Binding Hook Live Themes of China, capitalism, and conflict wove throughout the day of Binding Hook’s first live event

At Binding Hook Live in London on Monday, the main topics of conversation were China, capitalism, and conflict. Managing editors @jamesshires.bsky.social and @maxwsmeets.bsky.social share some of their observations: bindinghook.com/insights-fro...

Hooked! #8: Microsoft’s stronger stance on Israeli surveillance abuses pressures other tech companies to follow suit In a first, a big American tech company has cut off some IDF access to some services, raising questions about tech neutrality, digital sovereignty, and the wider impacts of the latest war.

While @microsoft.com's ban on IDF Unit 8200 using some Azure services might not have been October’s biggest web service provider story, it could have important lasting impacts. Read more in this month’s Hooked! bindinghook.com/hooked-8-mic...

Important loophole in sanctions against ISPs that host malicious actors & disinfo campaigns - because RIPE only freezes resources of sanctioned ISPs, preventing them from transferring IP space or acquiring new space but doesn't revoke space/resources, rogue ISPs can simply rebrand to evade sanctions

🚨 My latest research for @bindinghook is out!

I explore how sanctions against #Aeza and #StarkIndustries reveal the limits of current policy, and how #ThreatActivityEnablers exploit RIR policy and company registration frameworks to maintain infrastructure and support ongoing cyber operations.

‘Neutral’ internet governance enables sanctions evasion Internet service providers and hosting companies enable cybercrime and cyber operations. Why don’t sanctions stop them?

In his latest for Binding Hook, @lawrencesec.bsky.social looks at how internet service providers work within the system to evade sanctions and enable #cyberattacks and #disinformation campaigns: bindinghook.com/neutral-inte...

Why democracies need emotional resilience against surveillance Surveillance technologies have become central to democratic counterterrorism, reshaping how citizens relate to the state. By extending into everyday life, these tools not only promise protection but a...

#Surveillance has become central to #counterterrorism in democracies, but its spread into daily life raises a key question: how much monitoring can a free society absorb without losing trust? bindinghook.com/why-democrac...

The internet age has brought the civilian and military worlds closer than ever – the EU needs to catch up The EU must foster a culture of civil-military collaboration to effectively counter cyber threats.

If the EU wants to strengthen its cyber defences, it must move beyond bureaucracy and forge a true culture of #civilmilitarycooperation, writes @virtualroutes.bsky.social fellow Isabella Neumann in Binding Hook: bindinghook.com/the-internet...

China’s policing modernisation could offer lessons for Europe Europe’s reliance on US tech giants for law enforcement tools collides with its sovereignty agenda, inviting a closer look at how China’s state-centric model balances innovation and control.

The EU’s push for hashtag#digitalsovereignty has raised questions about reliance on foreign companies for sensitive tech like policing software. Ausma Bernot looks to China for answers in her latest: bindinghook.com/chinas-polic...

My first article for @bindinghook.bsky.social examines how Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, HUR, uses rapid self-attribution of cyber operations, such as the 2025 Crimea server breach, to shape transparency and legitimacy in wartime intelligence communication. 1/

Self-attribution as strategy in the Russo-Ukrainian War Ukraine’s military intelligence service has turned cyber self-attribution into a weapon, claiming responsibility for operations to disrupt Russia and using visibility as a tool of strategic communicat...

Ukraine’s intelligence service announced in July that it had gained full access to Russian servers in Crimea, extracting over 100 terabytes of data. But what purpose does this openness serve? Read more from @psguu.bsky.social: bindinghook.com/self-attribu...

🗓️ #BindingHookLive agenda is out now! Check it out & request your invite: bindinghooklive.com/agenda/

Jaguar Land Rover cyberattack shows that governments must provide post-incident support Cyber incidents impacting key national industries highlight the need for better approaches to protect the individuals who suffer most

Last month’s #JaguarLandRovercyberattack may cost £3.5B in revenue, but the bigger issue is the impact on 230,000 workers at JLR and in the supply chain facing layoffs, work reductions, and lost wages. @jasonnurse.bsky.social, Tom Johansmeyer & Gareth Mott: bindinghook.com/jaguar-land-...

How North Korea revamped old tactics for the IT age A largely unseen army of IT operatives quietly infiltrates global networks and secures foreign currency as part of a system Pyongyang has honed over decades through the strategic export of its labour ...

About 100,000 North Koreans work abroad in fields other than IT, earning the regime $500M a year. Most wages go back to Pyongyang, despite sanctions. Labour exports are central to its strategy. Read more from Kritika Roy: bindinghook.com/how-north-ko...

The curious case of Chinese innovation Political red lines limit chatbots, but not circuit boards. Support for industry matters more – when the state builds, the market often follows, sometimes at breakneck speed

In his latest for Binding Hook, Rogier Creemers explores #MadeinChina2025, which has encouraged innovation and led to major successes in fields from #solarpanels to #semiconductors. Read more: bindinghook.com/the-curious-...

Export controls and spyware: Enhancing oversight, transparency and restraint - Virtual Routes Colloquium The second session of the Virtual Routes Colloquium Fall/Winter series hosts Mark Bromley and Giovanna Maletta from SIPRI. Mark and Giovanna will present their research on "Export controls and spyware...

To hear the authors discuss this piece live, join the @virtualroutes.bsky.social Colloquium online on October 23 from 16:00 CET: virtual-routes.org/event/export...

Using export controls to tackle the proliferation and misuse of spyware and cyber-surveillance tools While the US and the Wassenaar Arrangement have historically led the way on spyware export controls, it may be the EU’s and the Pall Mall Process’s turn

Since 2012, states have used #exportcontrols to monitor and restrict #cybersurveillance tools, aiming to reduce risks to security and human rights. Recent multilateral initiatives have kept the momentum going: bindinghook.com/using-export...

How to ‘harden’ open-source software - Binding Hook Much of today's critical infrastructure and military systems rely on open-source software

And for some OSS funding and security history, check out this article from CSI nonresident senior fellow John Speed Meyers and his coauthor, Jacqueline Kazil, in @bindinghook.bsky.social: bindinghook.com/articles-bin...

What China’s chip strategy gets right The global chip race has a new contender – one that is rewriting the rules with ecosystem thinking and adaptability

Finally, John Lee digs into the successes of Chinese chips – despite a late start and US export controls, an adaptive and supply-chain focused industrial policy has allowed them to become competitive. bindinghook.com/what-chinas-...

China’s policing modernisation could offer lessons for Europe Europe’s reliance on US tech giants for law enforcement tools collides with its sovereignty agenda, inviting a closer look at how China’s state-centric model balances innovation and control.

Ausma Bernot writes that, despite China’s serious democratic and privacy limitations, there are lessons for Europe in its top-down, state-centred approach to police technology. bindinghook.com/chinas-polic...

China’s generative AI boom isn’t just technological – it’s regulatory Behind China’s rapid rise in generative AI is a bold regulatory experiment. Beijing is regulating AI with strict but narrowly targeted rules, that spur innovation while maintaining tight oversight

Next, Vincent Brussee explores how China’s strict-but-narrow regulatory approach has allowed AI to thrive within the bounds set by the state, and the implications of that for a Europe focused on deregulation. bindinghook.com/chinas-gener...