Pete Cooper

Pete Cooper is an independent cyber strategy adviser based in London, United Kingdom (UK), and a nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative.  He is the author of ‘Finding Lift, Minimising Drag’ a global perspective on the cyber security challenges facing the aviation industry.  The report is openly available  online at http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/publications/reports/aviation-cybersecurity-finding-lift-minimizing-drag and some perspectives from the report were recently reflected in US Policy in the FAA Re-Authorization Bill.

The first part of his twenty-four-year career in the UK Royal Air Force (RAF), was as a fast jet pilot and instructor on the Tornado GR4. He then became an early member of the UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) Joint Cyber Unit, developing and integrating cyber operations into UK and MoD processes. His final position was in MoD Joint Forces Cyber Group where he was the strategic cyber operations adviser, playing a key role in developing policies, concepts, and doctrine both nationally and internationally.

He has an MSc in cyberspace operations from Cranfield University. His dissertation on using psychology and influence as an Active Cyber Defense strategy was published by the Journal of Law and Cyber Warfare and explored how a better understanding of attacker psychology could be used to legally augment cyber security.