Cybersecurity
Identifying the key nation-state players in cyberspace
March 1, 2021
Question
From the readings and your own research, who are the three key nation-state players in cyberspace? Why did you choose them? Does your client operate in any of these nations?
Answer
I believe the key nation-state players in cyberspace are the United States, Russia, and China. I based my selection on SecureWorld’s country cyber power ranking which listed the United States, China, the United Kingdom, and Russia as the most powerful countries in cybersecurity. I selected the United States, China, and Russia because out of the four, I believe they have the most conflicting ideological viewpoints and the most to gain or lose in cyberspace.1
Microsoft indirectly operates in all these countries. Microsoft owns 56% of the operating system market share in Russia, 49% in China, and 29% in the United States.2 More interestingly, Microsoft directly operates in only China and the United States. This is represented through Microsoft's lack of Azure datacenters located in Russia.
As Microsoft’s headquarters are based in United Stated in Redmond, Washington, it is clear that they operate here. China, on the other hand, is a more interesting story. Microsoft entered the Chinese market in 1992 and created a Beijing Office there. As of 2021, Microsoft has increased their investments by establishing 4 Azure datacenters in China.3
In contrast, Microsoft does little direct business in Russia which is likely due to some tensions, evident by Russia’s most recent attack which broke into Microsoft’s internal software.4
This article is part of my Information Assurance and Cybersecurity Series. Learn more here.
Sources
1 Sussman, B. (2020, October 10). Top 10 Most Powerful Countries in Cyberspace. Secureworldexpo.Com. https://www.secureworldexpo.com/industry-news/top-10-most-powerful-countries-in-cyberspace
2 statcounter. (n.d.). Operating System Market Share United States Of America. StatCounter Global Stats. https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/all/united-states-of-america
3 Microsoft Corporation. (n.d.). Choose the Right Azure Region for You. Microsoft Azure. Retrieved February 13, 2021, from https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/global-infrastructure/geographies/
4 Allyn, B. (2020, December 31). Group Behind Alleged Russia Hack Broke Into Microsoft’s Internal Systems. Npr. https://choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=https://www.npr.org/2020/12/31/952436025/group-behind-alleged-russia-hack-broke-into-microsofts-internal-systems