Cy­ber Se­cur­ity, Reg­u­la­tion, and Policy in Di­git­al Busi­ness

Course content

The time when startups could disrupt existing structures with any technological vision they managed to obtain funding for, and when Big Tech companies could develop their global platforms as they pleased, is well and truly over.

Today’s business leaders need to understand the emergent security, regulatory and policy environments to guide their companies to prosperity in the middle of rapid change.This course will equip students with the knowledge and tools to analyze and confront the most pertinent questions in information- and cyber security and the most important political debates about the regulation of tech companies, from gatekeeper rules for the largest platforms to software security requirements affecting the smallest producers.

These range from questions about the management of data privacy, access to communications platforms, to the monitoring of content spreading there to the outright intrusion of these platforms to shape election campaigns; from the wholesale transfer of data into the cloud and how it can be kept secure and private there, to the regulation of cryptocurrencies. We will take a broad view to understand the ways in which the challenge of regulating complex innovations such as AI and reining in the power of huge global tech companies is pushing the existing political system to its limits.

The second part of the course will introduce students to the concepts and tools necessary to understand and assess the cybersecurity risks faced by companies, as well as to the security controls and procedures available to manage this risk. Students will learn how to craft and write company cybersecurity policies, incident response plans and other forms of documentation related to business cyber security and risk management.

In this way, the course provides the students with practice-oriented insights while offering reflections on current and future developments in the context of digital business cyber security, regulation, and policy, and the ways in which they will affect tech companies from the smallest to the largest.