Ashley Taylor

Senior Contributor


Cyberattacks and Sanctions


As a practitioner, entrepreneur and researcher Ashley Taylor is deeply immersed in the intersection of digital technologies and international security. Being a member of the first generation of blockchain entrepreneurs, Taylor was drawn early to the potential ramifications of encrypted communications and distributed ledger technologies on the integrity of commerce and social development. Currently she is compiling data and writing case studies on how cyberspace is weaponized, such as digital thefts of banks and cybercurrency exchanges, intrusions of computer networks to steal military-grade intellectual property, and hacks that modify technical and compliance databanks that normally prevent sanctions violations. She is simultaneously analyzing national regulations in regards to their application for UN sanctions implementation, and leading global trainings for private and public sector professionals in prevention of cyber-attacks.

She received her B.A. at Duke University in Cultural Anthropology and Visual and Media Studies and has completed a bridge program in Computer Science at NYU Tandon School of Engineering and one year of a M.S. in Data Analysis and Data Visualization at CUNY Graduate Center.

“The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Why is gender violence rarely if ever targeted with effective countermeasures such as UN sanctions resolutions or other powerful policy and development decisions?