ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the literature dealing with cyber-security issues of relevance to private security studies. It shows what the particularities of cyber-security as a security issue are and how elusive the concept of cyber-security is, since it has different meanings for different stakeholders and over time. The chapter also focuses on the link between cyber-security and cyberspace. It discusses the cyber-security literature, with a focus on cyber-security research in 'traditional' and 'critical' security studies. The chapter explains that the biggest difference between cyber-security and other private security topics is that the state is not giving away power and authority to private actors in traditional security matters. In the contemporary political debate, some infrastructures are now regarded as 'critical' by the authorities because their prolonged unavailability could result in social instability and major crisis. It concludes that the state is increasingly enforcing its authority in cyberspace, which has been almost exclusively dominated and shaped by private actors.
