Public Lecture: Jussi Toivanen

Abstract

Digital societies increasingly depend on interconnected technological systems, information networks, and public trust. Traditionally, cyber operations and information influence have been examined as separate phenomena: one targeting technical infrastructures and the other targeting cognition, perceptions, and behaviour. This presentation argues that such a distinction no longer adequately explains contemporary threats.

Rather than focusing solely on disrupted networks or compromised data, the presentation explores how cyber incidents and information influence interact to shape public understanding, generate uncertainty, and affect societal resilience. Cyber incidents are not merely technical events. Through media coverage, public debate, political contestation, and strategic narratives, they can become influence-relevant events whose societal consequences extend far beyond the original technical disruption. Recent research suggests that the most significant effects of cyber incidents may emerge not from the attack itself, but from how it is interpreted, framed, and integrated into broader narratives concerning security, vulnerability, institutional competence and trust.

By connecting insights from cybersecurity, strategic communication, crisis communication, and information influence research, the presentation examines how technical and informational activities can function as complementary tools of societal destabilisation. The talk argues that in an era of digital interdependence, the ultimate target is often not infrastructure alone, but public trust itself. Consequently, resilience must be understood not only as technical recovery, but also as the capacity to sustain legitimacy, manage uncertainty, and protect trust within the information environment.

Bio

Jussi Toivanen is a project researcher at the University of Turku, Finland, working on the Polinoculate project. His research interests include strategic communication, cybersecurity, cyber crisis communication, information influence, and societal resilience. He is currently on leave from his position as Head of Communications at the National Cyber Security Centre Finland (NCSC-FI/Traficom).

Toivanen has extensive professional experience in strategic and crisis communication and in countering malign information influence. Prior to joining NCSC-FI, he spent ten years at the Finnish Prime Minister’s Office, working on strategic communication, crisis communication, and preparedness against information influence. He has also held communications positions at the Finnish Ministry of the Interior, the National Police Board, and the Finnish Defence Forces.

His academic work combines research and teaching on cybersecurity, information influence, crisis communication, and societal resilience. He has held visiting research positions at Leiden University (The Hague Program on International Cyber Security, 2025), Lviv Polytechnic National University in Ukraine (ICSIT Institute,  2026), and the Technical University of Moldova (Cybercor Institute, 2026). Toivanen holds a Master of Social Sciences and a Master of Arts degrees from the University of Turku.