Transatlantic Cyber Forum

Cyber security and defense policies increasingly gain importance and momentum worldwide. Issues, such as the regulation of state surveillance, encryption policy and vulnerability exploitation, implications of emerging technologies, cooperation and coordination in the information security realm as well as offensive cyber operations, have implications for the domestic and international spheres alike. Those are global challenges which cannot adequately be addressed from a singular nation-state perspective. It is therefore prudent to learn from each other and develop smart and pragmatic solutions together. The United States as the global technology leader and Germany as a central stakeholder of the European Union with a distinct security and privacy culture and mindset play a major role in providing answers to those challenges.

To further research in the area of international cyber security policies and provide concrete policy recommendations, the Stiftung Neue Verantwortung (SNV) established The Transatlantic Cyber Forum (TCF) in January 2017. TCF was founded with the financial support of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. It is currently funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

TCF is an intersectoral network and currently consists of more than 150 experts from civil society, academia, industry, and government agencies working in various areas of transatlantic and international cyber security policy.

The following was previously the focus (in chronological order):
- Use of surveillance software by law enforcement agencies
- Government disclosure decision processes
- Securing elections
- Technological innovation for intelligence surveillance control
- Securing machine learning applications
- Protection of the machine learning supply chain
- Government's role in securing Open-Source Software
- Cybersecurity support deployment
- Responsible active cyber defense operations

The work was conducted by working groups with 30-50 experts each through online and face-to-face workshops in Berlin and Washington D.C., and through online collaboration.

 

Working Group: Responsible Vulnerability Disclosure and Mitigation Sharing

In 2024, the TCF Network focuses on the topic of "Responsible Vulnerability Disclosure and Mitigation Sharing" to present concrete implementation recommendations for "Norm (j)" of the UN norms of responsible state behavior in cyberspace. This project is made possible by the generous support of the German Federal Foreign Office. The working group currently consists of:

 

Charles-Pierre Astolfi  
Manuel Atug HiSolutions
Christoph Bausewein Crowdstrike
Ralf Benzmüller G DATA Cyberdefense AG
Gregor Bransky Innovationsverbund Öffentliche Gesundheit e.V.
Jack Cable U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
Betsi Cooper Aspen Tech Policy Hub
Alan  Duric  
Lars Fischer University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven
Kenneth Geers Atlantic Council
Max Heinemeyer Darktrace
Yorck Hesselbarth London School of Economics
Thorsten Holz CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security
Carolin Kemper Deutsches Forschungsinstitut für öffentliche Verwaltung
Adam I. Klein Robert Strauss Center for International Security & Law, University of Texas Law School
Andreas Kuehn ORF America
Susan Landau Tufts University
Klaus Landefeld eco - Verband der Internetwirtschaft
Thomas Lawson AXA
Andreas  Lehner DCSO
Lisa Lobmeyer HiSolutions AG
Eugenia Lostri Lawfare Institute
Igor Mikolic-Torreira Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) at Georgtown University
Greg Nojeim Center for Democracy & Technology
Lukasz Olejnik Independant Researcher and Consultant
Alexandra Paulus  
Pavlina Pavlova Cyber Peace Institute
Riana Pferfferkorn Stanford Internet Observatory
Jörg  Pohle Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society
Rainer Rehak Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society
Thomas Reinhold TU Darmstadt
Christine Runnegar Internet Society
Gudio Schulte German Armed Forces
Ari Schwartz Venable
Chinmayi Sharma Rober Strauss Center for International Security and Law, University of Texas
Aleksandra Sowa Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI), FG PET
Rob Spiger Microsoft
Tara Tarakiyee Sovereign Tech Fund
Tassilo Thieme Federal Office for Information Security
Eric Veith Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg
Julian-Ferdinand Vögele Recorded Future
Eric Wenger Cisco
Tarah Wheeler Red Queen Dynamics
JD Work National Defense University & Columbia University
Paul Zenker NSIDE ATTACK LOGIC GmbH

 

 

    The following publications have been supported by the Transatlantic Cyber Forum:


    In addition to the publications, the TCF project team at SNV provides the expert network with short updates (called "policy debates") which identify and discuss German cyber security policy developments.

    The TCF project team regularly engages in events and presentations including the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, the European Parliament and the German Bundestag and is cited in national and international media including leading German media outlets as well as for example the New York Times and the Washington Post.