The NextWare Sessions was a project by the Center for a New American Security's Technology and National Security Program. Designed as an occasional series addressing particular technology and security challenges, the first NextWare Sessions will develop creative concepts to guide practical action on how cross-disciplinary collaboration can improve cybersecurity.
The project was led by Ben FitzGerald, former Senior Fellow and Director of the Technology and National Security Program, and drew on the leadership of CEO Michèle Flournoy, President Richard Fontaine, and a select group of experts from a range of disciplines based in Washington and Silicon Valley. The NextWare Sessions project is supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s Cyber Initiative.
One of the most critical and fast-changing issues of our time, cybersecurity is a field of specializations within technology, policy, business, military, legal, and other domains. While members of these disparate groups often interact in informal ways, the scale and transgressive nature of today’s cyber threats demand more deliberate, collaborative, and actionable solutions.
Recognizing the importance of cybersecurity, the White House hosted a cybersecurity summit in Silicon Valley and announced the creation of the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC) to enhance the flow of information between the government and the private sector. However, government action can only go so far. There is still a need to address barriers to collaboration, such as a lack of a consensus on key issues, access to effective methods for collaboration, and understanding about the need to collaborate in the first place.
The NextWare Sessions convened a select group of expert stakeholders from key fields to engage in facilitated workshops to address these barriers and identify collaborative methods to address endemic cybersecurity challenges. The project has concluded with the alpha release of a toolkit designed to enable broad-based cybersecurity collaboration to yield more complete solutions. Released under a Creative Commons license, the NextWare Toolkit will benefit from continuous input and improvement beyond the foundations laid by CNAS.
