The overarching question imparting urgency to this exploration is: Can U.S.-Russian contention in cyberspace cause the two nuclear superpowers to stumble into war? In considering this question we were constantly reminded of recent comments by a prominent U.S. arms control expert: At least as dangerous as the risk of an actual cyberattack, he observed, is cyber operations’ “blurring of the line between peace and war.” Or, as Nye wrote, “in the cyber realm, the difference between a weapon and a non-weapon may come down to a single line of code, or simply the intent of a computer program’s user.”
Nikos Passas is a professor of criminal justice at Northeastern University. He specializes in the study of corruption, illicit financial/trade flows, sanctions, informal fund transfers, remittances, white-collar crime, terrorism, financial regulation, organized crime and international crime. He will present an MTA seminar on illicit commercial flows - what they hide and how to stop them.
Check out a podcast with Professor Passas recorded after this event here!