Enhancing Public Security Through the Use of Social Media

This paper focuses upon the emerging findings of an ongoing Horizon 2020 project -MEDI@4SEC: The Emerging Role of New Social Media in Enhancing Public Security. Working actively with police forces across Europe, MEDI@4SEC is creating a future roadmap for the role of social media in law enforcement and public security planning, not only for communication purposes and as a listening platform, but also as a tool for collaboration – a digital realm where policing and crime prevention can be done in new ways with new types of digital and real-world interventions. The ongoing results of MEDI@4SEC presented here illuminate a variety of police tasks are increasingly utilising social media. Such activities further highlight a series of challenges and opportunities for policing associated with organisational change, legal and ethical issues, privacy, transparency and liability, technological infrastructure and training required and budgetary concerns that are likely to shape the take up of social media usage in police forces around Europe in the coming years

The prevention of internal identity theft-related crimes: a case study research of the UK online retail companies.

Ranked the third biggest cyber security threats of 2013 by Forbes, Internal Identity Theft-Related Crimes (IIDTRC) leave countless victims in their wake, including online retail companies and consumers. With the rapid growth in the use of credit and debit cards in e-commerce, the online retail has been a key target for the IIDTRC perpetrators. IIDTRC involve the misuse of information systems (IS) by the dishonest employees to steal victims’ personal identifiable data. The crimes pose significant socio-economic impact and data security risks. In the context of online retail, relatively little research has been done to prevent IIDTRC. A few studies focus on situational-based IIDTRC prevention approach built on an independent use of software security. Others develop IIDTRC prevention frameworks in the context of generic e-businesses. The majority of the frameworks have little or no grounded empirical research. This research entitled the ‘The Prevention of Internal Identity Theft-Related Crimes: A Case Study Research of the UK Online Retail Companies’, attempts to bridge this research gap. It provides answers to two questions – what is the nature of IIDTRC in online retail companies and what framework can be used for IIDTRC prevention. This research set out three aims to answer the two questions. First, it provides understanding of causes, methods of carrying out and prevention of IIDTRC. Second, it extends a role-based framework (RBF) for the prevention of IIDTRC. Third, it evaluates the extent the RBF can be applied in the prevention of IIDTRC in online retail companies. A qualitative case study was used to achieve these aims. The empirical data were collected in the northwest of UK from 2011 to 2013. The field study was carried through archival analysis, semi-structured interview and participant observation. Organisational role theory (ORT) was used to guide the concept of a role-based framework (RBF) – a collaborative approach where the key components of management work in unison is required to prevent IIDTRC. The attributes of RBF were synthesised from the recommended IIDTRC prevention practices. The empirical evidence suggests that IIDTRC perpetrators in online retail companies are likely to be the top management and call centre employees. The findings suggest that online retail consumers’ credits/debits cards details are as much vulnerable to IIDTRC as the companies’ identities such as trade secrets and trademarks. Furthermore, the common methods used by the IIDTRC perpetrators include collaboration, collusion, infiltration and social engineering. Some of the IIDTRC prevention practices, of which the majority is software security, are implemented without considering the contribution of human-centred security based on management roles. In examining the contribution of the management roles in implementing Information Systems security practices, major challenges that are faced by online retail companies were identified. They include lack of resources, lack of management support and lack of IIDTRC prevention awareness training. This research concludes that an application of RBF can reduce the impact of the identified challenges. This was suggested by applying RBF in conducting IS security auditing in three online retail companies. The finding from the selected companies suggests that the RBF approach can maximise management performance in providing effective IIDTRC prevention practices. It provides better returns on cost, quality and time in the IS security auditing. It has an impact on management attitudes on preventing IIDTRC by clarifying and aligning their roles in implementing effective IS security auditing. There is heterogeneity of this effect across the companies suggesting that some are utilising the RBF approach while others are not. The finding confirms the plausibility of the RBF attributes. It suggests that the human-centred security play an integral role for effective internal data security in preventing IIDTRC. It suggests that it pays to use the collaborative management roles approach for implementing IIDTRC prevention practices. Furthermore, the use of the RBF approach can improve the effectiveness of the online retail companies in preventing IIDTRC. The findings suggest that benefits may accrue from the RBF approach when supplemented with a collaborative IS auditing. The benefits depend on the level of management IT skills, their perception of their roles, top management support and the organisational operations. This research contributes to the literature in identity theft prevention in online retail. To IS security practitioners, it identifies the data security challenges and IIDTRC prevention practices. To theory, it extends a role-based framework for IIDTRC prevention. To the emerging research in the digital economy, it puts forward as a robust starting point for further related works in cyber security, cybercrimes prevention and criminology

Cyber-Physical Threat Intelligence for Critical Infrastructures Security

Modern critical infrastructures comprise of many interconnected cyber and physical assets, and as such are large scale cyber-physical systems. Hence, the conventional approach of securing these infrastructures by addressing cyber security and physical security separately is no longer effective. Rather more integrated approaches that address the security of cyber and physical assets at the same time are required. This book presents integrated (i.e. cyber and physical) security approaches and technologies for the critical infrastructures that underpin our societies. Specifically, it introduces advanced techniques for threat detection, risk assessment and security information sharing, based on leading edge technologies like machine learning, security knowledge modelling, IoT security and distributed ledger infrastructures. Likewise, it presets how established security technologies like Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), pen-testing, vulnerability assessment and security data analytics can be used in the context of integrated Critical Infrastructure Protection. The novel methods and techniques of the book are exemplified in case studies involving critical infrastructures in four industrial sectors, namely finance, healthcare, energy and communications. The peculiarities of critical infrastructure protection in each one of these sectors is discussed and addressed based on sector-specific solutions. The advent of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) is expected to increase the cyber-physical nature of critical infrastructures as well as their interconnection in the scope of sectorial and cross-sector value chains. Therefore, the demand for solutions that foster the interplay between cyber and physical security, and enable Cyber-Physical Threat Intelligence is likely to explode. In this book, we have shed light on the structure of such integrated security systems, as well as on the technologies that will underpin their operation. We hope that Security and Critical Infrastructure Protection stakeholders will find the book useful when planning their future security strategies

Maximum risk reduction with a fixed budget in the railway industry

Decision-makers in safety-critical industries such as the railways are frequently faced with the complexity of selecting technological, procedural and operational solutions to minimise staff, passengers and third parties’ safety risks. In reality, the options for maximising risk reduction are limited by time and budget constraints as well as performance objectives. Maximising risk reduction is particularly necessary in the times of economic recession where critical services such as those on the UK rail network are not immune to budget cuts. This dilemma is further complicated by statutory frameworks stipulating ‘suitable and sufficient’ risk assessments and constraints such as ‘as low as reasonably practicable’. These significantly influence risk reduction option selection and influence their effective implementation. This thesis provides extensive research in this area and highlights the limitations of widely applied practices. These practices have limited significance on fundamental engineering principles and become impracticable when a constraint such as a fixed budget is applied – this is the current reality of UK rail network operations and risk management. This thesis identifies three main areas of weaknesses to achieving the desired objectives with current risk reduction methods as: Inaccurate, and unclear problem definition; Option evaluation and selection removed from implementation subsequently resulting in misrepresentation of risks and costs; Use of concepts and methods that are not based on fundamental engineering principles, not verifiable and with resultant sub-optimal solutions. Although not solely intended for a single industrial sector, this thesis focuses on guiding the railway risk decision-maker by providing clear categorisation of measures used on railways for risk reduction. This thesis establishes a novel understanding of risk reduction measures’ application limitations and respective strengths. This is achieved by applying ‘key generic engineering principles’ to measures employed for risk reduction. A comprehensive study of their preventive and protective capability in different configurations is presented. Subsequently, the fundamental understanding of risk reduction measures and their railway applications, the ‘cost-of-failure’ (CoF), ‘risk reduction readiness’ (RRR), ‘design-operationalprocedural-technical’ (DOPT) concepts are developed for rational and cost-effective risk reduction. These concepts are shown to be particularly relevant to cases where blind applications of economic and mathematical theories are misleading and detrimental to engineering risk management. The case for successfully implementing this framework for maximum risk reduction within a fixed budget is further strengthened by applying, for the first time in railway risk reduction applications, the dynamic programming technique based on practical railway examples

Cyber Places, Crime Patterns, and Cybercrime Prevention: An Environmental Criminology and Crime Analysis approach through Data Science

For years, academics have examined the potential usefulness of traditional criminological theories to explain and prevent cybercrime. Some analytical frameworks from Environmental Criminology and Crime Analysis (ECCA), such as the Routine Activities Approach and Situational Crime Prevention, are frequently used in theoretical and empirical research for this purpose. These efforts have led to a better understanding of how crime opportunities are generated in cyberspace, thus contributing to advancing the discipline. However, with a few exceptions, other ECCA analytical frameworks — especially those based on the idea of geographical place— have been largely ignored. The limited attention devoted to ECCA from a global perspective means its true potential to prevent cybercrime has remained unknown to date. In this thesis we aim to overcome this geographical gap in order to show the potential of some of the essential concepts that underpin the ECCA approach, such as places and crime patterns, to analyse and prevent four crimes committed in cyberspace. To this end, this dissertation is structured in two phases: firstly, a proposal for the transposition of ECCA's fundamental propositions to cyberspace; and secondly, deriving from this approach some hypotheses are contrasted in four empirical studies through Data Science. The first study contrasts a number of premises of repeat victimization in a sample of more than nine million self-reported website defacements. The second examines the precipitators of crime at cyber places where allegedly fixed match results are advertised and the hyperlinked network they form. The third explores the situational contexts where repeated online harassment occurs among a sample of non-university students. And the fourth builds two metadata-driven machine learning models to detect online hate speech in a sample of Twitter messages collected after a terrorist attack. General results show (1) that cybercrimes are not randomly distributed in space, time, or among people; and (2) that the environmental features of the cyber places where they occur determine the emergence of crime opportunities. Overall, we conclude that the ECCA approach and, in particular, its place-based analytical frameworks can also be valid for analysing and preventing crime in cyberspace. We anticipate that this work can guide future research in this area including: the design of secure online environments, the allocation of preventive resources to high-risk cyber places, and the implementation of new evidence- based situational prevention measure

Cyber-Physical Threat Intelligence for Critical Infrastructures Security

Modern critical infrastructures can be considered as large scale Cyber Physical Systems (CPS). Therefore, when designing, implementing, and operating systems for Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP), the boundaries between physical security and cybersecurity are blurred. Emerging systems for Critical Infrastructures Security and Protection must therefore consider integrated approaches that emphasize the interplay between cybersecurity and physical security techniques. Hence, there is a need for a new type of integrated security intelligence i.e., Cyber-Physical Threat Intelligence (CPTI). This book presents novel solutions for integrated Cyber-Physical Threat Intelligence for infrastructures in various sectors, such as Industrial Sites and Plants, Air Transport, Gas, Healthcare, and Finance. The solutions rely on novel methods and technologies, such as integrated modelling for cyber-physical systems, novel reliance indicators, and data driven approaches including BigData analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Some of the presented approaches are sector agnostic i.e., applicable to different sectors with a fair customization effort. Nevertheless, the book presents also peculiar challenges of specific sectors and how they can be addressed. The presented solutions consider the European policy context for Security, Cyber security, and Critical Infrastructure protection, as laid out by the European Commission (EC) to support its Member States to protect and ensure the resilience of their critical infrastructures. Most of the co-authors and contributors are from European Research and Technology Organizations, as well as from European Critical Infrastructure Operators. Hence, the presented solutions respect the European approach to CIP, as reflected in the pillars of the European policy framework. The latter includes for example the Directive on security of network and information systems (NIS Directive), the Directive on protecting European Critical Infrastructures, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the Cybersecurity Act Regulation. The sector specific solutions that are described in the book have been developed and validated in the scope of several European Commission (EC) co-funded projects on Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP), which focus on the listed sectors. Overall, the book illustrates a rich set of systems, technologies, and applications that critical infrastructure operators could consult to shape their future strategies. It also provides a catalogue of CPTI case studies in different sectors, which could be useful for security consultants and practitioners as well

Drone Policing A realist case study of police technological innovation

Recent years have witnessed a rapid expansion in the use of unmanned aerial systems (commonly referred to as drones) amongst constabularies across England and Wales. New and emerging potentials have been lauded amongst drone advocates, pointing to the many ways in which drones can augment and assist in a range of policing functions. These include, but are not limited to, crime scene investigations, public events monitoring, operational planning, search-and-rescue, and intelligence/evidence gathering. Critical social science has tended toward registering drone technology in terms of panoptic power; ‘always on’ surveillance which jeopardises privacy and civil liberties within domestic liberal democratic societies. An alternative register of drone policing is advanced in this thesis which challenges such unilateral accounts. Drone policing is instead understood as a socio-technical system which permits analysis of the ways in which drones shape and are shaped by policing. This realist conception compels empirical investigation into drone policing in action (as opposed to in thought). This case study exposes the human relations which enable and constrain drone policing, including localised regulation and parochialism, human error, technical malfunctions, and evangelism and resistance amongst police officers. These factors run alongside the conditions of the natural world – such as adverse weather and ferromagnetic interference – as well as the material world – as the UK grapples with widespread drone proliferation – which police drones are deployed into. Consequently, drone policing is reconceptualised in line with the context-mechanism-outcome pattern configurations symbolic of realist evaluations of policing programmes; the mechanisms which produce drone policing relate to diverse contexts. This thesis suggests that empirical study of drone policing in action can problematise hitherto teleological accounts of drone policing and generate the conceptual armature for future research and speculation about police relations with emergent technology