The Shadow of Cybersecurity Expertise

Pulitzer Prize-winning tech journalist & 2017-18 CASBS fellow John Markoff chats with 2022-23 CASBS fellow Rebecca Slayton on how the field of computing expertise evolved, eventually giving rise to the niche of professionals who protect systems from cyber-attacks. Slayton's forthcoming book explores the governance & risk implications emerging from the fact that cybersecurity experts must establish their authority by paradoxically revealing vulnerabilities and insecurities of that which they seek to protect.REBECCA SLAYTONCornell University faculty page | |  CASBS page | Slayton's book Arguments that Count: Physics, Computing, and Missile Defense, 1949-2012 (MIT Press)Slayton's article "What is the Cyber Offense-Defense Balance?," International SecurityVideo: Talk on "Shadowing Cybersecurity: Expertise, Transnationalism, and the Politics of Uncertainty" at Stanford Univ.JOHN MARKOFFNew York Times pageMarkoff's latest book, Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Steward Brand (Penguin Random House, 2022) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University75 Alta Road | Stanford, CA 94305 | CASBS: website|Twitter|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach​View the Fall 2023 CASBS Newsletter  Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach​Human CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel