Sneha Dawda

The reason China is seeking to become more dominant in this space is because they want to reduce the dependency on others whilst increasing that dependency on them. So in a simple way, they increase their diplomatic power and their negotiating power the more of the important technology they provide."

London-based think tank the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) released a report [PDF] this week laying out the contours of the privacy-vs-safety debate, weighing the needs and exploring possible solutions. The researchers have tried to find middle ground in a highly polarized environment, calling for "a more nuanced conversation about possible solutions to the criminal use of E2EE services. It is vital that a range of views are considered in order to identify the key issues and inform a more productive debate."

‘Cyber operations take a long time,’ said cybersecurity researcher Sneha Dawda from the Royal United Services Institute. ‘It’s not simple to create a piece of malware that could disrupt the whole energy infrastructure of Ukraine.’ This is knowledge Russia simply may not have, in spite of its reported use of its neighbour as a ‘test bed’ for cyber ops. These may have given Ukraine the opportunity to learn about how its neighbour hacks, giving it time to adapt its cybersecurity efforts in response, Dawda added.