Rafal Rohozinski

Biography

Rafal Rohozinski is one of Canada’s thought leaders in the fields of cyber security and Internet freedom. He is the founder and CEO of The SecDev Group and Psiphon Inc., and his work in information security spans two decades and 37 countries, including conflict zones in the CIS, the Middle East and Africa.

In 2010 Rafal was named by SC Magazine as one of the top five IT security luminaries of the year, and “a person to watch” by the Canadian media. He is known for his work on cyber espionage, including co-authorship of the Tracking GhostNet, Shadows in the Cloud and Koobface studies examining Chinese cyber espionage networks and global cybercrime. Rafal is a senior scholar at the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto and previously served as director of the Advanced Network Research Group, Cambridge Security Program, University of Cambridge. He is a senior research advisor to the Citizen Lab, and together with Ronald Deibert a founder and principal investigator of the Information Warfare Monitor and the OpenNet Initiative.

Among his numerous academic and policy papers are “Stuxnet and the Future of Cyberwar” (Survival, IISS, 2011), “Liberation vs. Control: The Future of Cyberspace” (Journal of Democracy, 2010), “Bullets & Blogs: New Media and the Warfighter” and “Strategic utility of cyberspace operations” (US Army War College).

He is also a lead editor and contributor to Access Controlled: The Shaping of Power, Rights, and Rule in Cyberspace (MIT Press, 2010), Access Contested: Security, Identity and Resistance in Asian Cyberspace (MIT Press, 2011), and "Collusion and Collision: searching for guidance in Chinese cyberspace" (Information Warfare Monitor, 2011). His forthcoming book (co-authored with Ronald Deibert), Ghost in the Machine: The Battle for the Future of Cyberspace, will be published by McClelland and Stewart in early 2012.

Rafal’s commercial ventures are active across the spectrum of cyberspace. The SecDev Group provides clients in the government and commercial space with intelligence, toolsets and investigations that inform policy and address risk in the information age. Psiphon Inc is a leading content delivery network, cybercasting Voice of America, Radio Farda, Radio Free Asia and the BBC into areas and regions where the Internet is censored. The SecDev Foundation provides support and advanced research capabilities to university, public research and advocacy efforts aimed at preserving the global commons of cyberspace.

Rafal’s work and research frequently appears in such publications as The New York Times, Washington Post, the Guardian and The Globe and Mail, and he has appeared as a commentator on the BBC World Service, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CNN and other international media.

Presentation: Ghost in the machine - the battle for the future of cyberspace

From the colour revolutions to the Arab Spring, citizens around the world are using the Internet for social and political change. But cyberspace is changing. Online crime, cyber spies and the threat of a digital Pearl Harbor are raising fears that cyberspace has become a Wild West and pushing governments to seek measures that regulate and police cyberspace. The trouble is that securing cyberspace means something different in Talinn than it does in Tehran and Beijing. The future of cyberspace is at risk as a collusion of good intentions, government regulation and economic interests may inadvertently transform the global commons into a series of walled gardens. The consequence may be an end to the Internet as we know it - and the beginning of a new dark age.