So popular, in fact, that Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha announced the creation of a “cyber diplomacy department” within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, presented as an unprecedented achievement and a result of deep ministerial reform.And this despite the fact that the MFA’s internal networks have been hacked by practically everyone except the lazy, and Russian hackers feel right at home there. While that’s a vivid part of the bigger picture, that’s not the focus today.I may not know everything about cybersecurity (I've only been working in the field for the past 25 years), but in my mind, the concepts of “diplomacy” and “cybersecurity” just don’t quite add up.Diplomacy is essentially the art of negotiation between different countries, measured and polite negotiations, regardless of the level of respect for the other party. Negotiations covering all aspects of a country’s life, without exception.Cyber, on the other hand, is about an almost entirely different reality. One where there are no embassies, no norms of international law, where any schoolkid can become a global threat, and traditional rules are seen as almost obligatory to break.Most officials have no technical background whatsoever, so they haven’t the slightest idea how all this cyber-stuff actually works. They've memorized a few populist slogans and know that cybersecurity is a trendy topic. Plus, there’s decent money in it. And if someone from the Foreign Ministry talks about this trendy topic, they’re automatically labeled a “cyber diplomat.”The defenders of the made-up term “cyber diplomacy” usually explain it like this: “Cyber diplomacy is diplomacy in cyberspace or the use of diplomatic resources and functions to protect national interests in cyberspace.”So tell me, you so-called cyber diplomats, how exactly did you protect national interests from, say, Russian hackers? What was your role during the attacks on M.E.Doc, Kyivstar, the Ministry of Justice registries, Prykarpattyaoblenergo, Ukrzaliznytsia, and hundreds of others? You can’t even protect your own networks.One gentleman wrote something along the lines of, “we need to negotiate cooperation in cyberspace, and negotiating is diplomacy.” OMFG. That’s exactly like the joke about the zoology student who only studied lice, and when he got an exam question about fish, began: “Fish don’t have fur, but if they did, they’d have lice, and lice are…”Yes, one of the most complex problems in global cybersecurity is establishing cooperation, especially intergovernmental cooperation.But the ones who should be talking and negotiating are solely and exclusively the experts. Because they understand the specifics, the nuances, how everything actually works. Credentialed amateurs will only get in the way.What’s more, for many years now, there have been numerous international cybersecurity organizations, both purely commercial and purely civil, non-governmental ones, specifically created to facilitate intergovernmental cooperation. One of the most well-known is FIRST, which Ukraine is already a member of — imagine that! In fact, since 2009. All without any of those so-called cyber diplomats, thank God. If they had been around back then, we probably wouldn’t have been accepted into FIRST, in my humble opinion.And another question: why on earth was cyber singled out as a separate area of work for diplomatic institutions? By that logic, the MFA should also have departments of energy diplomacy, financial diplomacy, transport diplomacy. Are these areas any less important than cyber?But no, cyber gets its own department, while the others don’t. Why is that?I just want to understand the logic behind these decisions.Obviously, this cyber diplomacy department in the MFA will be just another parasitic feeding trough for privileged “cyber gypsies.” They will understand cybersecurity about as much as a pig understands oranges, but overflowing with their own importance, they will bravely “defend national interests in cyberspace” at international conferences somewhere in warm countries by a warm sea.Instead of a cyber diplomacy department, it would be far more effective to create a proper cybersecurity unit, real, staffed with experts and budgets.“Not like it is now.”For now, the term “cyber diplomacy” is like a guinea pig — neither a pig nor really from the sea.SourceAbout the author. Kostiantyn Korsun, cybersecurity expert.The editorial team does not always share the opinions expressed by blog or column authors.