...Cyber Threats Roger Larew SEC 402 Informational Warfare February 16, 2011 Before we get into the major cyber terrorism threats that we all have to deal with I wanted to first define what cyber terrorism is. According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, cyber terrorism is any premeditated, politically motivated attack against information, computer systems, computer programs, and data which results in violence against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents Unlike an annoying virus or computer attack that results in denial of service, a cyber terrorist attack could lead to physical violence or extreme financial harm. According to the U.S. Commission of Critical Infrastructure Protection, possible cyber terrorism targets include the banking industry, military installations, power plants, air traffic control centers, and water systems. Cyber terrorism is often referred to as electronic terrorism or information war. Based on recent reports and the information presented to congress, America has a long way to go before security threats are adequately addressed. Almost half of 2,131 U.S. companies polled had no formal security policies in place, and most relied primarily on user passwords and multiple logons for protection. Only 49% of U.S. companies had plans to raise user awareness of policies and procedures in the next 12 month. Unbelievably only half of 150 companies surveyed by InformationWeek Research one week after the terrorist...
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...Is Cyber crime a serious and growing threat? 1. INTRODUCTION Cyber crime cannot be clearly defined but all the definitions that are attributed to it basically boil down to the following: “an unlawful act wherein the computer is either a tool or a target or both" (Dubey 2004). On the other hand, ‘threat’, in this context, can be construed as “something likely to cause damage or danger” (Online dictionary 2014). Generally speaking, any unlawful act is expected to cause harm and cyber crime is no exception to this general rule. It has been noted that since the public release of the World Wide Web in 1991, the Internet has known an explosive expansion and continuous upgrading. Unfortunately, cyber crime has also gained in preponderance and sophistication in direct correlation with this Internet revolution. Given its stealth characteristics coupled with its alleged multifaceted implications in terms of both financial loss and security issues, cyber crime has already got the legitimate recognition of a growing and serious threat by the various stakeholders concerned. The only contentious issue is perhaps the monetary quantification ascribed to the resulting damages which is often greeted with much skepticism. 2. CATEGORIES OF CYBER CRIME Indeed, cyber crime does not lend itself to a narrow definition and is generally classified into four categories; that is, crimes committed against the individual, property, organisation and society (Mali 2009). This classification also gives...
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...Cyber security is a critical and growing issue in the world today. President Obama said this issue is, "one of the most serious economic and national security threats our nation faces" (Cybersecurity). The United States is one of the most computer dependent societies and has the most computer dependent military and intelligence agencies. With more and, more of our country being ran by technology we are at a bigger risk of attack. A cyber attack could be the most devastating attack our country has ever faced. An attack on America’s cyber infrastructure could cripple the country and put us at an even greater risk of a normal attack. FBI Director said “Counterterrorism — stopping terrorist attacks — with the FBI is the present number one priority. But down the road, the cyber threat, which cuts across all FBI programs, will be the number one threat to the country” (Paganini). The message is clear the cyber security threat we are facing today is a dangerous and growing threat that has serious offensive potential and is often difficult to detect or prevent. An attack on a nation’s critical infrastructure can be devastating and when you add the fact that cyber attacks often do not make themselves know until it is to late could make for a devastating first strike prior to an invasion. Cyber security is defined as measures taken to protect a computer or computer system (as on the Internet) against unauthorized access or attack. The term “cyber security threat” means...
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...Weak USA Cyber Policy vs China’s Security Threat to the USA? Abstract A cyber spy network based mainly in China hacked into classified documents from government and private organizations. One of the biggest questions still remains unanswered. Should the U.S. Congress conduct an in depth assessment of Chinese cyber spying and consider imposing tougher penalties on companies that benefit from industrial espionage. In this paper I will review china’s cyber threat and possible USA solutions to protect against the threat. Could Weak USA Cyber Policy be the cause of China’s Security Threat? U.S. corporations and cyber security specialists have reported an daily attack of computer network intrusions originating from China. Of the seven cases that were adjudicated under the Economic Espionage Act in 2010, six involved a link to China. U.S. corporations and cyber security specialists have reported a huge increase of computer network intrusions originating from China. Some of these reports have alleged a Chinese corporate or government sponsor of the activity, but the U.S. intelligence community has not been able to confirm these reports. In a study released in February, McAfee attributed an intrusion attempt they labeled Night Dragon to a Chinese Internet Protocol (IP) address and indicated the intruders stole data from the computer systems of petrochemical companies (Minnick, W. 11 Dec, 2011).” So could the problem be U.S. Cyber policy? I believe congressional committees...
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...Computers have modernized terrorism in the same way cyber terrorism revolutionized information warfare. There is no distinct definition of Cyber terrorism; however, its threat is as real as waging war but with weapons of automation. Terrorists have begun to exploit the availability of information with the malicious intent to sabotage; conversely, there are those who are not quite sure if information warfare - cyber terrorism is an actual threat. This research paper will briefly explore the history of cyber terrorism, the friend the internet has been to terrorist and how we can make the internet safer through vigilant tactics of prevention and deterrence. It will also expose the truth about cyber terrorism for the skeptic, reasons not to discount the threat, and why it is paramount their mind is changed. Information Warfare-Cyber Terrorism Did you know there were 18 cybercrime victims every second, 1058 every minute, approximately 64,000 per hour, and 1.5 million per day, that affected over 556 million people within the last year (Norton , 2012)? The internet has made it possible for terrorists to gather our public information and use it against us. As the internet matures so does the terrorist, finding ways to cripple and intimidate. The internet and terrorists have become a real hazard to the health of the cyber world. The government has implemented several organizations to help combat cyber terrorism but have not given it a clear concise definition. Skeptics...
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...How Stereotypes Affect Us In this video Claude Steele tells about his research on stereotype threat and the way it affects us. Each of us has social identities such as gender, age, race, sexuality etc. Stereotype threat is an experience of being in situation or doing something for which a negative stereotype about one of your identities is relevant. African American can be seen as a violent person in a neighborhood with predominantly white people or white student can be perceived as a racist in class that is predominantly nonwhite, that are some of examples of stereotype threat. Dealing with things, because of particular identity in particular place that what makes the identity real. We often have fear to be judged in terms of negative stereotype. That can make us sad and confused, but also it can affect our behavior and performance! One of experiments was related to stereotype that women are not as good in math as men. Both women and men were taking math exam sitting in one room. Women showed worse results than men. That happened, because women were worried about this stereotype (often unconsciously), so they have to put double efforts to perform under this pressure. But when before test participants were told that in this particular test everyone (men and women) do equally all the time, women get same good results as men! Same situation was with IQ test for white and black participants. Black got lower results when were told that this is a test to measure intelligence...
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...Stereotype threats are related to mathematics, it specially affects men and women. There are two different terms that affect the outcome of performance, stereotype threat and stereotype lift. Stereotype threat is the threat that other peoples judgments about a certain groups performance will cause that group to perform in a way that confirms the negative stereotype that’s believed about that group. Stereotype lift is causes the individual to perform much better than those exposed to negative stereotypes about other groups. Stereotype threat affects math performance. Identify how and in what ways does it affect the performance because of the expectations for a women’s poor performance in math. It’s hypothesis that women will perform worse in...
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...Corporate/Cyber Espionage You’re the owner of ABC Candy Company and just about to debut your latest and greatest chocolate snack when your biggest rival over in Asia at XYZ Candies introduces its latest snack, that is almost a doppelganger to yours. Have you just been a victim to corporate cyber espionage or just extremely bad timing? In 2012 federal agencies alone reported 46,562 cyber security incidents compared to only 5,503 in 2006. In 6 years the number of incidents has multiplied over 8 times. (LUKAS, 2013) And what is the cost of this to companies in the U.S.? It is figured the price tag for this theft of information is at least 250 Billion dollars each year. This is significantly higher than what businesses pay each year, in federal corporate income taxes. (LUKAS, 2013) Meanwhile, McAfee provides an estimate encompassing global remediation costs to total a staggering $1 trillion per annum. (Paganini, 2013) Cyber corporate espionage attacks and threatens corporate America, government programs and individuals daily in new and unrelenting ways. But who is committing these attacks and why? How are individuals, groups, companies and even governments’ gaining access to supposed secure information? And how are you and corporate America going to detect and remove these threats from your daily lives? Let’s first start with just the basic definition of just what is corporate cyber espionage Cyber espionage is defined as the intentional use of computers or digital communications...
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...2011 Cyber Bullying StopCyberbullying.org, an expert group on internet safety defines cyber bullying as: "a situation when a child, tween or teen is repeatedly 'tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted' by another child or teenager using text messaging, email, instant messaging or any other type of digital technology.” It has to have a minor on both sides, or at least have been initiated by a child against another child. Once adults become involved, it is cyber harassment or cyber stalking. Adult cyber harassment or cyber stalking is never called cyber bullying. The way a child does this bullying is only limited by their imagination and their access to technology, and the cyber bully one moment could become the victim the next. It has been suggested by the BBC that cyber-bullying may be influenced by videos that are uploaded to video sharing websites online, which contain offensive content or examples of acts of bullying. Websites that currently do not filter such videos, such as YouTube, have been asked to take legal action against videos of people being attacked, harassed or ridiculed, in order to reduce cyber bullying as a result. The kids often change roles, going from victim to bully and back again. Cyber bullying is usually not a one-time thing, unless it includes a death threat or a threat that would do serious bodily harm. Children have even killed each other and committed suicide after being involved in a cyber bullying...
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...Internet to the general public. This Internet for most can be a useful resource. From gathering research for an academic project to attending a board room meeting remotely, the Internet has proven to be key in many aspects of human life today. The Internet has also given way to a slue of new crimes and negative activity. Cyber stalking, Cyber bullying, exploitation, sex crimes, financial fraud and the use of viruses and malicious code are just a few things that have become prevalent on the information super highway. One of today’s largest concerns among parents is protecting their children from becoming victims of bullying. There was a time when you had to worry about the school bully running into while in the hallways of your school or out and about around your neighbor, but the situation surrounding bullying been given a technological advantage. Social media sites such, as Facebook.com, Twitter and Instagram have become the avenues for bullies to invade their victim’s homes and lives. In a recent cyber bullying case in Lakeland Florida, a 12-year-old Rebecca Sedgwick jumped to her death at a local cement plant. She had been the victim of at least 15 cyber bullies through many avenues. The torment for her started at her school and bled over to the Facebook.com. After she was taken out of school by her mother and closed her Facebook account she continued to receive harsh messages and...
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...Cyber Espionage Topics in Global Strategy Mike Dresser MGT 536 March 11, 2013 Cyber espionage is quickly becoming one of the most feared tactics around the world, but most recently, the computer spy game between China and the United States has been elevated to new levels. Just within the last few days, The New York Times broke a story pin pointing Coca Cola as one of the main targets of a Chinese sponsored cyber attack. Many believe this was largely due to discussions that Coca Cola had with China Huiyuan Juice Company regarding a potential acquisition. If it had gone through, this would have been the largest acquisition of a Chinese company by a foreign corporation. However, due to an elaborate Chinese cyber spy operation, they attempted to hack into Coke’s files to find information about Coca Cola’s negotiating strategy, and the deal was ultimately terminated because of deceptive practices. This is only the tip of the iceberg as cyber spy attacks are becoming more and more prevalent across the globe with no signs of slowing down. Mandiant, a cyber security company, also made front page news this past week when they published a full detailed report that traced a series of cyber attacks on a variety of U.S. companies, as well as many of our government agencies, such as the Department of Defense, NASA, and the Department of Commerce. Mandiant specifically identified a Shanghai based operation known...
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...in terrorist activities, including acts of deliberate, large-scale disruption of computer networks, especially of personal computers attached to the Internet, by the means of tools such as computer viruses. In short, cyber terrorism is a new language of war. What makes cyber terrorism so appealing for criminals? * Remote attacks - One of the primary advantages for terrorists is their ability to launch an attack on a designated area from anywhere in the world. A terrorist on the other side of the world sitting in front of a computer can launch an attack, route it through 50 different countries, cover his tracks so that it is nearly untraceable, and cause billions of dollars in damages and even fatalities. * Damage scope - Another attractive feature is scope of damage that can result. * Using cyberspace a terrorist can take control of traffic lights in a certain area and could take more lives in hundreds of deadly car accidents. * Electric Power System- The electrical power grid is a probable target for cyber terrorists.If the computer systems controlling these systems could be disrupted or shut down it could knock out power for many. This could lead to potential deaths if the system isn’t recovered in a timely manner. Examples of cyber terrorism * In 1998, ethnic Tamil guerrillas attempted to disrupt Sri Lankan embassies by sending large volumes of e-mail. The embassies received 800 e-mails a day over a two-week period. The messages read "We are...
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...Living in the Age of Cyber Attacks and Cyber Warfare UMUC If you asked the average person on the street about cybersecurity and cyber warfare, they would probably say they don’t know much about it other than the fact that it involves computers. In fact, for anyone outside of the cybersecurity industry, the closest thing to cyber warfare that they may have experienced was their viewing of the movie War Games, or the fourth installment of the Die Hard series, Live Free or Die Hard. While those movies had a profound impact on the lives of the characters in the script, the audience probably thought it was merely fiction, not fully based on fact. In Live Free or Die Hard, John McClain (played by the indefatigable Bruce Willis) is attempting to stop a domestic cyber-terrorist who is acting out on a vendetta against the United States. The cyber-terrorist is successful in launching an online attack to overload and destroy a power grid that left much of America’s East Coast in darkness. When I first saw this movie, I was curious if an attack like that was really possible; however, most people around me just labeled the movie as “Hollywood’s overactive imagination”. With cyber attacks literally having the ability to affect lives in a nanosecond, it is vital that everyone understand what cyber attacks entail, the impact of these cyber attacks on a domestic and international scale, and knowing what to expect in the future while living in a world dominated by virtual experiences...
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...not enough these laws need to be strictly enforced by the government, and the people being held accountable for their actions. People argue the cyberbullying laws are a violation of the 1st Amendment, more specifically the freedom of speech and the freedom of expression. In Michigan, Joshua Mahaffey was 15, he and a friend created this web site in 2001. The website was called “Satan’s Web page” and according to Joshua it was created it for laughs. On the website listed “people I wish would die,” which listed names of several students at their schools. Then a parent notified the police about the site, it’s a threat and posed an infraction against the cyberbullying laws. Joshua was interviewed and admitted to creating and contributing to the website. Then he was sent to a local psychiatric hospital. After three days, doctors released him as not a threat to himself and others. The school then suspended him for the first semester. Joshua’s parents then sued the school district for violating his freedom of expression. Joshua then won his case against the school district. However, after September 11th security against another terriost attack was on highest alert....
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...Introduction Cyber security refers to the practices and processes that are used in technologies such as networks, computers, information and programs from damages by unwarranted entities (Ahmad, Yunos & Sahib, 2012). There are different attacks towards technology which may distort information or be used to create tension in an organization. Information stored in computers has some level of privacy and this depends on the level of sensitivity that such information may have towards that organization. Business strategies, political discussions and government documents are some of the documents that require a higher degree of privacy. However, there are individuals who cause deliberate attacks on the information systems of organizations and governments in order to unlawfully access information or distort the meaning of such data. The intention of cyber attacks has led to the classification of these attacks into particular classes. For example, we have cyber bullying and cyber terrorism. Under cyber bullying, the attackers use technology to abuse and intimidate their targets. Cyber bullying has been common through the presence of the social media where an individual will use pseudo-accounts to publish half truths about others with a bid to embarrass them. On the other hand, cyber terrorism involves the use of technology to access vital government sites in order to cause harm and fear in the society through terrorism activities. Brunst (2010) indicates that cyber terrorist activities...
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