This article analyzes the importance of public policies
aiming at cyberspace in Brazil in the period from 2000
to 2023. The question that guides the text is: how did
the Brazilian governments in this period present their
cyber defense objectives in their respective “National
Defense White Papers”, the 2008 and 2020 National
Defense Strategy and other high-level national defense
documents, transforming them into effective actions?
The methodology adopted is exploratory research with
a qualitative approach. The hypothesis of this research
is that although there has been the creation of norms
and the development of initiatives that demonstrate the
greater importance of cyber defense for Brazil in the 21st
century, we can verify the lack of initiatives marked by
the conception of long-term public policies. This article is
structured in three topics. The first one brings a succinct
debate on public policies in the defense area. The second
topic analyzes the development of norms and public
policies in Brazil aimed at cyber defense. The third topic
presents some policies adopted and examples of the
cybernetic capacity obtained by this country.