Cyber harm and critical infrastructure: How far does responsibility reach?
Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW)

Date: 15 October 2026, 15:00 – 17:00 SGT; 07:00 – 09:00 UTC

Description

When a cyber-attack causes cascading harm across critical infrastructure — crossing sectors, borders, and the state & non-state divide — the question of responsibility becomes as complex as the attack itself.

This session presents a tabletop exercise (TTX) developed under the 2026 Geneva Dialogue work programme on stress-testing cyber norms and cybersecurity frameworks under geopolitical and operational pressure. Participants — representing governments, operators, technical responders, and international and regional bodies — work through a multi-sector, cross-border crisis scenario involving cascading harm to critical infrastructure, making decisions under uncertainty, with incomplete information and a narrowing window for action.

The scenario is designed to surface questions that remain genuinely open: what obligations apply when harm crosses jurisdictions, who holds the authority to act when the response window is shorter than the time needed for verification, and where the line between state and operator responsibility falls when infrastructure is privately owned but nationally critical.

Findings from the exercise will contribute to the third chapter of the Geneva Manual on Responsible Behaviour in Cyberspace, examining how agreed cyber norms hold up when tested against real-world crisis conditions, and how non-state actors navigate decision-making within the current geopolitical environment.

Format

The session invites public policymakers, private sector representatives, including critical infrastructure operators, experts from the cybersecurity and cyber defence community, and compliance representatives.

RSVP

Please reach out to genevadialogue@diplomacy.edu to register for the session.