Organisational integration of offensive cyber capabilities: A primer on the benefits and risks

Abstract

Organisational Integration has become a key agenda point for policy-makers as governments continue to change and create new organisations to address the cyber threat. Passing references on this topic, however, far outnumber systematic treatments. The aim of this paper is to investigate the potential effects of organisational integration of offensive cyber capabilities (OIOCC). I argue that OIOCC may lead to three key benefits: enhanced interaction efficiency, greater knowledge transfer and improved resource allocation. There are, however, several negative effects of integration, which have so far received little attention. OIOCC may lead to an intensification of the cyber security dilemma, increase costs overall, and impel ‘cyber mission creep’. Though the benefits seem to outweigh the risks, I note that ignoring the potential negative effects may be dangerous, as activity is more likely to go beyond the foreign-policy goals of governments and intrusions are more likely to trigger a disproportionate response by the defender.