Full Stack Spies w/ Ahana Dhatta Fasel

This conversation addresses one of the defining security challenges of our time: as the US and China weaponise cyberspace for strategic advantage, how is the escalating contest between hackers, defenders, tech giants and nation-states reshaping global trade, finance, defence and critical infrastructure?

Dr Ahana Datta Fasel, author of Full Stack Spies: Cyber Espionage in the Age of US-China Competition and former UK government ethical hacker, will be in conversation with Dr Louise Marie Hurel, Senior Research Fellow in Cyber and Tech, RUSI.

About the book 

Global internet stability rests on a paradox: nations must build shared technical protocols while simultaneously breaking them to gather intelligence. Full Stack Spies examines the dynamic, interdependent relationships that hackers, cyber defenders, tech giants and nation-states forge, exploit and leverage to build cyber power across geopolitics, global trade and finance, the armed forces, and critical infrastructure. 

Drawing on her experience inside UK government, Dr Ahana Datta Fasel shows how cyber espionage reflects the psychology, culture and strategic priorities of the states that conduct it, examining China’s cyber ecosystem, the human motivations behind hacking operations, and why the line between peace and conflict in the digital age has become increasingly blurred.

About the author 

Dr Ahana Datta Fasel advises governments and companies globally on geopolitical, technological and systemic risk. She was previously the Financial Times‘ cyber chief and held senior cyber roles across UK government, including the Ministry of Justice, the Cabinet Office and the National Cyber Security Centre. She is a strategic advisor on national security and defence to UK Research and Innovation, and a trustee of Privacy International.