Summary:

The government’s cyber defense effort is a growing concern in the Norwegian security landscape. The intelligence threat remains high and the vulnerabilities of the digital infrastructure have become more apparent. This thesis will look into some of the challenges the Government of Norway faces when addressing the threats from cyberspace against the state. The challenge for the Government seems to increase through new adversaries, technology and to a more complex crisis management solution.

The research question of this thesis is: Can the Government of Norway take the comprehensive approach when the principle of responsibility still is the fundamental idea behind the Norwegian crisis management model?

The paper suggests that the threats to the state, facilitated by Cyberspace, must be seen in a wider societal context where the Government’s political freedom of maneuver and national economic interests are regarded as national security interests, and should be a part of what must be defended. Different trends of today seems to be self-reinforcing the threats to nation states and their national security interests, and thriving trends demand a constant state of alertness to how national security interests are handled and how they are vulnerable to direct and indirect Cyberthreats.

First, this paper will shortly address the broader societal interests and values whish should be considered when Cyberdefence is used as a term. It is worth noticing that the problem of finding the perpetrator is followed by challenges of prosecuting and trialing criminals. Secondly, the trends of globalization and the technology dependency will briefly be reviewed regarding? this thesis. It is noticeable that these trends seem to be feeding each other, and rapidly changing the scenario of what that is at stake, which the threat actors are and how they operate. Thirdly the paper then explores how the state has organized itself to handle Cyberthreats to the nation state and their national security interests. This is done by first addressing the Government approach to the new understanding of threats and vulnerabilities,then by addressing the principle of responsibility to the delegation of authority and resources, and lastly by exploring how a comprehensive approach to Cybersecurity, from the Government’s point of view, can function alongside the crisis response principle of responsibility. In conclusion, the paper argues that the Norwegian approach to handling threats that come through cyberspace is largely based on the crisis response principle of responsibility and not so much on a comprehensive approach as the Government would like to think. A mprehensive approach must also to a higher degree take into consideration the need for legitimacy both in planning and execution of their efforts.