This paper describes the growing potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities in United Nations peace operations. Rapid changes in the cyber capabilities of state and non-state actors, the changing nature of asymmetric warfare, and the position of the United Nations in global and regional geopolitics have exposed peace operations to increasingly complex cybersecurity threats. I am. Alongside these external trends, internal trends in mission intelligence, surveillance, and data management technologies are also making missions more vulnerable to cyber threats. At the same time, missions also have the opportunity to leverage cybersecurity infrastructure to support the performance of tasks such as mediation, political reconciliation, and the protection of civil society actors.
This document provides an overview of the cyber threats facing peace operations and the opportunities to leverage cybersecurity tools to carry out missions. It also documents the operational and policy challenges that have arisen and the Secretariat's efforts to address them. The report concludes with several recommendations for the United Nations as it seeks to conduct peace operations in an increasingly challenging political and cybersecurity environment.
- The Secretariat should develop a cross-cutting operational concept and guidance for cyber threat assessment.
- The Secretariat should clarify its understanding of its staff's privacy obligations and develop operational guidance and expertise to mitigate threats to privacy.
- When facilitating political processes, peace operations need to consider whether cybersecurity measures are equally effective in thwarting hacking attempts by all parties, so as not to exacerbate “information asymmetries.” be.
- The United Nations should explore boundaries around missions that avoid or thwart surveillance and infiltration activities by host countries to secure its operations.
- The Secretariat should reduce the amount of data exposed to cyber threats, including by deploying UN-owned and UN-operated intelligence and surveillance equipment where possible.
