Dr. Panayotis Yannakogeorgos, Cyber College research professor of cyber policy, was part of an International Mobile Education Team from the Center for Civil-Military Relations that held a three-day Cyber Security and Strategy Seminar, Sept. 21-23, in the nation's capital Baku.

CCMR is a DoD organization within the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. The center prepares practitioners from all over the world for new levels of leadership in their national security communities. Other IMET members presenting at the seminar were a CCMR lecturer and the NPS director of cyber security.

The seminar, attended by senior leadership from various Azerbaijani ministries, was structured to present academic and practical frameworks with which to assess the capabilities of combined capacity to counter cyber threats and to develop and implement the elements of a national strategy for cyber security.

The key objectives of Yannakogeorgos' presentations were to familiarize participants with the broad cybersecurity threat environment in a strategic context for military and government decision makers; roles, responsibilities and authorities for securing the cyber environment; raise awareness for international norms to help guide the development of a national legal system compatible with the emergent rules for states to practice; and to understand best practices in developing a cyber-workforce for the government.

"This one week seminar has been designed for nations that are interested in articulating priorities and exploring options to secure cyberspace," said Yannakogeorgos, who has also traveled to Indonesia and Albania with the CCMR IMET to conduct cyber seminars. "This course prepares decision-makers to effectively identify, design and implement elements of a national cybersecurity strategy."

Air University Cyber College is focusing its international engagement to develop innovative partnerships to respond to emerging challenges and opportunities in cyberspace, he said. Events such as this help increase international awareness of Air University as a thought-leader in strategic cyberspace education. It is also part of Air University's contribution to one of DOD's strategic goals for cyberspace: Build and maintain robust international alliances and partnerships to deter shared threats and increase international security and stability.

"The seminar is also an effort to operationalize my research results on strategies to decrease where cyber threats can come from by engaging with international audiences in cyber capacity building forums such as this," said Yannakogeorgos. "Without strong international partnerships aimed at creating strong institutional capacities to serve as a foundation for like-minded nation-states to combat transnational cyber threat actors, there cannot be a stable cyber environment that allows for nations to prosper in a trustworthy and stable cyber environment."