Cybersecurity Research Meets Science and Technology Studies
This article sets out to show how different understandings of technology as suggested by Science and Technology Studies (STS) help reveal different political facets of cybersecurity. Using cybersecurity research as empirical site, it is shown that two separate ways of understanding cybertechnologies...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cogitatio
2018-06-01
|
| Series: | Politics and Governance |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1385 |
| _version_ | 1811342988400394240 |
|---|---|
| author | Myriam Dunn Cavelty |
| author_facet | Myriam Dunn Cavelty |
| author_sort | Myriam Dunn Cavelty |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article sets out to show how different understandings of technology as suggested by Science and Technology Studies (STS) help reveal different political facets of cybersecurity. Using cybersecurity research as empirical site, it is shown that two separate ways of understanding cybertechnologies are prevalent in society. The primary one sees cybertechnologies as apolitical, flawed, material objects that need to be fixed in order to create more security; the other understands them as mere political tools in the hands of social actors without considering technological (im)possibilities. This article suggests a focus on a third understanding to bridge the uneasy gap between the two others: technology defined as an embodiment of societal knowledge. The article posits that in line with that, the study of cyberpolitics would benefit from two innovations: a focus on cybersecurity as social practice―enacted and stabilized through the circulation of knowledge about vulnerabilities―and a focus on the practices employed in the discovery, exploitation and removal of those vulnerabilities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T19:21:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ca2772e9514547698947b2ca7e53336c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2183-2463 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T19:21:44Z |
| publishDate | 2018-06-01 |
| publisher | Cogitatio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Politics and Governance |
| spelling | doaj.art-ca2772e9514547698947b2ca7e53336c2022-12-22T02:33:31ZengCogitatioPolitics and Governance2183-24632018-06-0162223010.17645/pag.v6i2.1385738Cybersecurity Research Meets Science and Technology StudiesMyriam Dunn Cavelty0Center for Security Studies, ETH Zürich, SwitzerlandThis article sets out to show how different understandings of technology as suggested by Science and Technology Studies (STS) help reveal different political facets of cybersecurity. Using cybersecurity research as empirical site, it is shown that two separate ways of understanding cybertechnologies are prevalent in society. The primary one sees cybertechnologies as apolitical, flawed, material objects that need to be fixed in order to create more security; the other understands them as mere political tools in the hands of social actors without considering technological (im)possibilities. This article suggests a focus on a third understanding to bridge the uneasy gap between the two others: technology defined as an embodiment of societal knowledge. The article posits that in line with that, the study of cyberpolitics would benefit from two innovations: a focus on cybersecurity as social practice―enacted and stabilized through the circulation of knowledge about vulnerabilities―and a focus on the practices employed in the discovery, exploitation and removal of those vulnerabilities.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1385actor-network theorycybersecuritycyberwarscience and technology studiessociology of knowledge |
| spellingShingle | Myriam Dunn Cavelty Cybersecurity Research Meets Science and Technology Studies Politics and Governance actor-network theory cybersecurity cyberwar science and technology studies sociology of knowledge |
| title | Cybersecurity Research Meets Science and Technology Studies |
| title_full | Cybersecurity Research Meets Science and Technology Studies |
| title_fullStr | Cybersecurity Research Meets Science and Technology Studies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cybersecurity Research Meets Science and Technology Studies |
| title_short | Cybersecurity Research Meets Science and Technology Studies |
| title_sort | cybersecurity research meets science and technology studies |
| topic | actor-network theory cybersecurity cyberwar science and technology studies sociology of knowledge |
| url | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1385 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT myriamdunncavelty cybersecurityresearchmeetsscienceandtechnologystudies |