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WVXU: UC scholar helped shape U.S. Cybersecurity Strategy

Cyber security colleague says UC’s Richard Harknett influential in new cyber strategy

headshot of Angela Koenig By Angela Koenig 513-558-4625
2 minute read April 3, 2023

Up until 2018, the United States had what many would call a passive approach to cybersecurity, allowing the private sector to deal with various threats as it saw fit. A new, government led approach, however — the U.S. Cybersecurity Strategy 2023 — was influenced by Richard Harknett, professor and head of UC's School of Public and International Affairs.

Rich Harknett, Chair, Center for Cyber Strategy and Policy.

Professor Richard Harknett, head of the UC School of Public and International Affairs, co-director of the Ohio Cyber Range Institute, and chair of UC's Center for Cyber Strategy and Policy. Photo/Lisa Ventre/UC Marketing + Brand.

“Richard Harknett is absolutely one of the key architects with the strategy,” Gregory Winger, an assistant professor in the school, told WVXU.

Harknett was the initial scholar in residence at the U.S. Cyber Command, which Winger says demonstrates that government needs to partner with academia to research threats that were solely under the private sector purview.

Winger says, “Think about Microsoft, chip producers, (and) hardware companies ... have become lax over the years in terms of releasing and then patching software. One of the emphases of this strategy is actually making that process much more effective and much more secure.”

Harknett, who is also co-director of the Ohio Cyber Range Institute and chair of UC's Center for Cyber Strategy and Policy, led the establishment of UC's School of Public and International Affairs in 2022. The school was created out of the former Department of Political Science, dating to 1914.

Experts from the school are regularly cited in national and international media outlets.

Listen to the WVXU interview.

Featured image at top: Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand

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