About Project
Civilian Exposure Reduction Project
Center for Digital Human Security Lab
The Civilian Exposure Reduction Project (CERP) is an initiative of the Center for Digital Human Security (CDHS) lab at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech. The lab sits at the intersection of policy expertise and technology innovation, researching and developing solutions to protect global digital infrastructure from cyber threats, ensuring the digital age advances human dignity rather than undermining it. Through partnerships across government, industry, and civil society, CDHS provides the research foundation and collaborative framework that drives CERP’s success.
The Problem
The Challenge of Shared Digital Infrastructure
Modern digital infrastructure is often designed for dual-use, supporting both civilian and military users without clear separation. As a result, these interconnected systems create dependencies where civilian populations rely on infrastructure that may also serve military purposes. During conflicts, attacks targeting military components can unintentionally or intentionally disrupt services critical to civilians.
The Escalating Risk
This challenge is expected to intensify over time. The growing reliance on public-private partnerships and the inherent architecture of the digital ecosystem are increasing the spread of shared civilian-military infrastructure. Without deliberate intervention, this interdependence will continue to expand over the coming decades.
Effective Segregation of Civilian and Non-civilian Digital Users and Assets
The absence of effective segregation between civilian and military assets introduces significant risks to civilian safety and access to essential services during conflict. This project aims to address this gap by systematically researching and identifying feasible solutions across physical, technical, policy, and strategic domains to enable the separation of civilian and military users on shared digital infrastructure.
CERP's Objective
The objective of this project is to research, develop, and advance practical solutions for segregating civilian and military assets on shared digital infrastructure during times of conflict, with the ultimate goal of improving civilian protection.
As part of the Civilian Exposure Reduction Project (CERP) initiative, this project operates as a group that brings together policymakers, government stakeholders, private sector organizations, technical experts, non-profits, and international institutions. Rather than functioning as a single standard or framework, CERP serves as a platform to address critical questions, generate actionable ideas, and drive solutions that are both realistic and implementable in real-world environments.
Through stakeholder engagement, experimental validation, development and field-testing of prototype solutions, the project seeks to evaluate existing approaches, explore new strategies, and identify scalable methods to protect digital infrastructure and civilian assets during conflict.
Ultimately, the project aims to answer critical questions and to produce actionable solutions that inform policy, guide technical development, and strengthen the resilience and security of digital ecosystems in high-risk scenarios.
Key Objectives
What Infrastructure is shared?
Identifying the most common types of digital infrastructure used by both civilian and military actors during conflict.
What are the harms?
Analyzing the real-world consequences for civilians when shared infrastructure is targeted.
What segregation approaches already exist?
Mapping current techniques at both the hardware and software level used to separate user groups on shared systems.
Are existing approaches applicable here?
Evaluating whether current methods could reduce civilian harm in conflict scenarios.
Are new solutions needed?
Exploring novel technical and non-technical approaches where existing ones fall short.
What are the trade-offs?
Assessing the risks, costs, feasibility, and potential resistance associated with each approach.
How We Work
Phase 1 - Discovery
We begin by building a foundational understanding of how civilian and military assets currently share digital infrastructure. This phase focuses on identifying key risks to civilians, examining existing segregation approaches, and uncovering the technical, operational, and policy challenges that limit their adoption.
Phase 2 - Stakeholder engagement
Building on Phase 1 findings, we host expert workshops, one in Europe and one in the United States to debate challenges and opportunities. A second survey validates emerging consensus, and small-scale lab experiments test the viability of the most promising approaches identified.
Phase 3 - Implementation
This phase focuses on translating research into real-world impact. Findings are consolidated into public reports and actionable recommendations, while also being integrated through collaboration with global partners. The project advances practical solutions through the development and field testing of prototypes, with the goal of enabling effective strategies to protect civilian digital infrastructure during conflict.
Who We're Looking For
Are you interested in contributing to this effort?
We welcome insights from a diverse range of perspective including policymakers, technical experts, researchers, industry professionals, and anyone with relevant experience or ideas. Whether it’s sharing your perspective through short questionnaires, contributing a one-page opinion, or participating in discussions, your input can help shape practical solutions to protect civilians in digital environments.
Participation is entirely flexible and voluntary. There is no long-term commitment or formal obligation, contributors can engage in ways that fit their availability and interest.