Assessing the Effectiveness of Cyber Defense Assistance

This report aims to provide a framework to evaluate CDA effectiveness. After two years of CDA to Ukraine, one organization at the forefront of CDA in Ukraine is the Cyber Defense Assistance Collaborative (CDAC). CDAC’s ongoing convenings of a wide range of governmental and private sector stakeholders indicate that no organization or government has a deep understanding of how to assess the effectiveness of these activities.

The framework presented in the report highlights components that must be considered when evaluating CDA. The report seeks to inform interested stakeholders on enhancing CDA delivery, prioritizing efforts, and understanding the broader applications of CDA to future conflicts.

Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) graduate students developed a report and framework for evaluating CDA effectiveness. Based on relevant open-source research and a review of existing evaluation frameworks in areas such as cybersecurity, defense assistance, and foreign and development aid, the resulting framework identifies five key pillars: Operational Success, Efficiency, Strategic Planning, Friction, and Sustainability.

The framework provides a three-phased approach designed to enable users to prioritize certain aspects of evaluation – operational, strategic, and organizational – at different points of conflict and CDA provision. In the face of future conflicts, this framework can help to refine and assess the effectiveness of CDA to defend nations under attack in the cyber domain.