Keynote: Who Gets to Point Fingers? Technical Capacity and International Accountability

As cyber threats grow more sophisticated and geopolitically complex, the international community continues to grapple with fundamental questions about how states should behave in cyberspace—and how to hold them accountable when they don’t. International efforts to establish responsible state behaviour in cyberspace have traditionally centred on a narrow set of voices and technical capabilities. This talk will examine the current diplomatic landscape—from the UN’s work on norms of responsible state behaviour to emerging frameworks on state responsibility—and reveal critical gaps in how we think about public cyber attribution. Drawing on research with middle-ground states, the session will explore how Global South nations are developing alternative approaches to attribution that challenge Western-centric assumptions about evidence, legitimacy, and strategic advantage. What happens when countries with limited technical infrastructure are inclined to attribute? How do differing regional threat landscapes shape attribution priorities? And crucially, what can the private sector learn from these perspectives as companies increasingly fill attribution gaps left by states? This talk will bridge high-level diplomatic negotiations with on-the-ground realities on this topic.

By:
Louise Marie Hurel | Researcher, Royal United Services Institute

Full Session Details Available at:
https://blackhat.com/eu-25/briefings/schedule/index.html#keynote-who-gets-to-point-fingers-technical-capacity-and-international-accountability-50480Black HatRead More