  In recent years, computational research methods, digital trace data and
online human interactions have contributed to the emergence of new
technology-oriented sub-fields within International Relations (IR). Although
the cybersecurity scholarship had an initial promise to be the primus inter
pares among these emerging fields, the main thrust of this new methodological
innovation came through the digital conflict studies sub-field. By integrating
Internet and social media research tools and questions into its core topics of
sub-national violence, terrorism and radical mobilization, digital conflict
studies has recently succeeded in addressing some of the data validity and
methodology problems faced by the cybersecurity scholarship. This article
begins by briefly reviewing some of the persistent data and method-oriented
hurdles faced by the cybersecurity scholarship. Then, it moves onto a more
detailed account of how digital conflict studies have been addressing some of
these deadlocks by focusing individually on the literature on onset,
mobilization, targeting, intensity/duration and termination phases of
conflicts. Ultimately, the article concludes with the suggestion that the
cybersecurity scholarship could move past its own deadlocks by building more
granular and dedicated research datasets and establishing mechanisms to share
event data with the scientific community.
