Cybersecurity in Humanities and Social Sciences

2Definitions, Typologies, Taxonomies and Ontologies of Cybersecurity

2.1. Introduction

On the national and international scene, cybersecurity is nowadays described as a major issue. Faced with the ever-increasing volume and seriousness of security incidents in cyberspace, states have equipped themselves with legal and technological instruments enabling them to organize the necessary responses. By legal means, they have not only designed the framework for sanctions but have also given the security forces the means to act. These means have been implemented since the 1970s. And even if, at that time, we were not talking about “cyberspace” or “cybercrime”, but about “computer crime”, or “computer-related crime”, the challenges were no less great. This need for protection, anticipation and reaction was essential. The story has not changed much since then. Society as a whole, its economy, its citizens, its businesses, its critical infrastructures, its administration and its government, are exposed to cyber-attacks whose power or intensity level is such that it can disrupt their functioning and balance. The State is probably the major actor in coordinating the fight against these threats – which are propagated by networks – because it requires comprehensive action and the involvement of many actors which must be simultaneously legal, technical, political, public and private, national and international.

Although the concept of “cybersecurity” is now at the heart of national security ...