42 research outputs found
Towards a Probabilistic Complexity-theoretic Modeling of Biological Cyanide Poisoning as Service Attack in Self-organizing Networks
We draw an analogy of \emph{biological cyanide poisoning} to security
attacks in self-organizing mobile ad hoc networks. When a circulatory
system is treated as an enclosed network space, a hemoglobin is treated
as a mobile node, and a hemoglobin binding with cyanide ion is treated
as a compromised node (which cannot bind with oxygen to furnish its
oxygen-transport function), we show how cyanide poisoning can reduce the
probability of oxygen/message delivery to a rigorously defined
``negligible\u27\u27 quantity. Like formal cryptography, security problem in
our network-centric model is defined on the complexity-theoretic concept
of ``negligible\u27\u27, which is asymptotically sub-polynomial with respect
to a pre-defined system parameter . Intuitively, the parameter
is the key length in formal cryptography, but is changed to the
network scale, or the number of network nodes , in our model. We use
the \RP (-runs) complexity class with a virtual oracle to formally
model the cyanide poisoning phenomenon and similar network threats.
This new
analytic approach leads to a new view of biological threats from the
perspective of network security and complexity theoretic study
Asymmetrical deterrence for NBC terrorism
Cataloged from PDF version of article.The aim of this thesis is to analyze the framework of deterrence
theory whether it may be suited to the Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC)
terrorism as an asymmetrical threat. As a methodology, mainly qualitative
means were applied. This thesis will argue that though the classical deterrence
theory was primarily created for inter-state relations, its main premises and
newly transformed features –due to the post-cold war era- can be applied on the
asymmetrical relations between states and terrorist organizations which would
initiate to use NBC material in particular. In the analysis of the problem of
managing asymmetrical deterrence through revisiting orthodox ground of
deterrence; the nature of the new threat and critics of classical theory of
deterrence were discussed together to shape a unique asymmetrical deterrence.
In conclusion, this thesis was finalized with the argument that to overcome the
deficiencies of prevention models against asymmetrical threats as well as to
remove obstacles for conducting a feasible deterrence theory against
asymmetrical threats; benefiting from the deconstruction of classical deterrence theory is necessary in terms of recalling the concepts of rationality, capability
and credibility.Ece, BerkM.S
Enabling NATO’s Collective Defense: Critical Infrastructure Security and Resiliency (NATO COE-DAT Handbook 1)
In 2014 NATO’s Center of Excellence-Defence Against Terrorism (COE-DAT) launched the inaugural course on “Critical Infrastructure Protection Against Terrorist Attacks.” As this course garnered increased attendance and interest, the core lecturer team felt the need to update the course in critical infrastructure (CI) taking into account the shift from an emphasis on “protection” of CI assets to “security and resiliency.” What was lacking in the fields of academe, emergency management, and the industry practitioner community was a handbook that leveraged the collective subject matter expertise of the core lecturer team, a handbook that could serve to educate government leaders, state and private-sector owners and operators of critical infrastructure, academicians, and policymakers in NATO and partner countries. Enabling NATO’s Collective Defense: Critical Infrastructure Security and Resiliency is the culmination of such an effort, the first major collaborative research project under a Memorandum of Understanding between the US Army War College Strategic Studies Institute (SSI), and NATO COE-DAT.
The research project began in October 2020 with a series of four workshops hosted by SSI. The draft chapters for the book were completed in late January 2022. Little did the research team envision the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February this year. The Russian occupation of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, successive missile attacks against Ukraine’s electric generation and distribution facilities, rail transport, and cyberattacks against almost every sector of the country’s critical infrastructure have been on world display. Russian use of its gas supplies as a means of economic warfare against Europe—designed to undermine NATO unity and support for Ukraine—is another timely example of why adversaries, nation-states, and terrorists alike target critical infrastructure. Hence, the need for public-private sector partnerships to secure that infrastructure and build the resiliency to sustain it when attacked. Ukraine also highlights the need for NATO allies to understand where vulnerabilities exist in host nation infrastructure that will undermine collective defense and give more urgency to redressing and mitigating those fissures.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1951/thumbnail.jp
Aerospace medicine and biology: A cumulative index to a continuing bibliography (supplement 384)
This publication is a cumulative index to the abstracts contained in Supplements 372 through 383 of Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A Continuing Bibliography. It includes seven indexes: subject, personal author, corporate source, foreign technology, contract number, report number, and accession number
Cyberterrorism: A postmodern view of networks of terror and how computer security experts and law enforcement officials fight them.
The purpose of this study is to investigate how cyberterrorists create networks in order to engage in malicious activities against the Internet and computers. The purpose of the study is also to understand how computer security labs (i.e., in universities) and various agencies (that is, law enforcement agencies such as police departments and the FBI) create joint networks in their fight against cyberterrorists. This idea of analyzing the social networks of two opposing sides rests on the premise that it takes networks to fight networks. The ultimate goal is to show that, because of the postmodern nature of the Internet, the fight between networks of cyberterrorists and networks of computer security experts (and law enforcement officials) is a postmodern fight. Two theories are used in this study: social network theory and game theory.This study employed qualitative methodology and data were collected via in-depth conversational (face-to-face) interviewing. Twenty-seven computer security experts and law enforcement officials were interviewed. Overall, this study found that cyberterrorists tend not to work alone. Rather, they team up with others through social networks. It was also found that it takes networks to fight networks. As such, it is necessary for experts and officials to combine efforts, through networking, in order to combat, let alone understand, cyberterrorist networks. Of equal relevance is the fact that law enforcement agents and computer security experts do not always engage in battle with cyberterrorists. They sometimes try to interact with them in order to obtain more information about their networks (and vice versa). Finally, four themes were identified from the participants' accounts: (1) postmodern state of chaos, (2) social engineering, (3) know thy enemy, and (4) the enemy of my enemy is my friend
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Change and continuity in the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has long been reflecting on how to prevent the ‘re-emergence of chemical weapons’ as the verification of the destruction of declared stockpiles continues to approach completion. To deal with this shift in emphasis, a functional rebalancing of activities and resources will likely be required as the OPCW seeks to ensure that the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention remains relevant and effective in future operating environments.
Despite much expert attention, studies that explore and characterise the nature of change within the OPCW are scarce, resulting in gaps in our knowledge regarding the different actors involved, and how processes of change unfold. This stems from ontological and theoretic positions embedded within some mainstream approaches used to examine international organisations, which often treat secretariats as bureaucratic ‘black boxes’, characterising change as the product of state machinations. Moreover, change is often treated as episodic and exceptional, arising from deliberate and controlled efforts.
Drawing on archival research at the Sussex-Harvard Information Bank and participant observation within the OPCW, this thesis investigates how our understanding of changing within the OPCW can be enhanced if we treat the Secretariat as a purposive actor involved in these processes. This enhanced understanding enables a deeper exploration of what change looks like and how it unfolds, providing insights that can support contemporary development.
The thesis uses culture theories to present a unique assessment of the Secretariat through the interaction between formal/official and informal/unofficial cultural manifestations. This gives the Secretariat character, opening the black box and allowing its role in changing to be considered. Then, inspired by the work of Andrew Pettigrew, an analytical framework based on a process metaphysics ontology is employed to examine processes of changing. Three longitudinal case studies are used to examine these processes in response to perceived challenges posed by chemical terrorism and non-state actors. This reveals how States Parties and the Secretariat co-create through long-run processes of change and continuity. Evidence for taking seriously the role of bureaucratic bodies in organisational development is presented, exploring how agency can be variously conceived of, and how changing often tends to be multiplicitious and not confined to a single category.
The thesis has theoretical implications. Approaches that arbitrarily ignore particular actors within (international) organisations should be treated with caution, and where possible inclusivity should be sought. Mainstream theories about change tend to be similarly exclusive, prioritising or prescribing a particular form or type of change. This thesis has demonstrated that a variety of forms of changing can co-exist, suggesting that expanding organisational change approaches might be fruitful. An important insight to emerge is that bureaucracies tend toward dysfunction rather than the ideal-type, and using cultural approaches can open up new spaces for examining relationships between structure and agency across different levels, and bring new dimensions to our understanding of secretariats.
Practical implications include demonstrating how the Secretariat has contributed to organisational capacity and capability to respond to perceived challenges around chemical terrorism and non-state actors. In doing so, it provides new perspectives on how the OPCW develops. The research argues that as the OPCW functionally rebalances, attention to organisational geographies and identities will need to be part of human resource strategies, as the cultural analysis reveals areas of tension. Finally, the Secretariat are co-creators of organisational changing, and although their inputs and impacts can be hidden, indirect, or informal, this research reveals they are productive. This suggests that more evidence-based research is needed to examine the role of secretarial components in organisational changing. During times of normative stress and functional uncertainty, this must be a priority
Fake News: Finding Truth in Strategic Communication
Fake news is an old phenomenon that has become a new obsession and a menace to society due to technological advancement and the proliferation of social media, which has changed traditional journalism norms. As the spread of false information has increased these past few years, it has become increasingly difficult for information consumers to distinguish between facts and fakes. A comprehensive systematic literature review to extract themes revealed the major factors responsible for spreading fake news. This qualitative interpretative meta-synthesis (QIMS) aims to better understand and offer solutions to combat fake news. This Ph.D. dissertation will serve as a guide for ethical communication practice and a reference for future research studies
Student Research Colloquium Proceedings 2012
2012 Student Research Colloquium proceedings include the following: explanation of the Student Research Colloquium passport , a schedule of the day\u27s events, acknowledgement of research sponsors, the day\u27s program, conference presentation abstracts, formal paper competition participants, poster presentation competition participants, student presenter index, research sponsor index, planning committee, poster and paper presentation judges, registration desk, sponsors, and donors, map of Atwood Memorial Center
The impact of migration on urban security and the quality of urban life
The paper analyzes the impact of migration on urbanization, that is, on urban
security in major cities and the quality of urban life. Urbanization itself has its own positive
and negative challenges. The positive challenges are most often associated with accelerated
modernization of cities and their industrialization, economic development, democratization, im�proved quality of services, cultural development, education, etc. According to some unwritten
rule, the quality of services in urban areas increases in proportion to the increase in the popula�tion. On the other hand, the large concentration of population in a small area highlights the dis�advantages that are a side segment of the urbanization and are most often related to security,
i.e. to the so-called “urban security”. The shortfalls are associated with the increased occurrence
of negative social deviations, poverty, increased crime rate, lack of drinking water, enormous
soil, water and air pollution, concentration of large populations in a small area, vulnerability to
terrorism, increased noise, scarce green areas, appearance of a specific microclimate, climate
change, etc. This also leads to a division of the population living in neighborhoods, which are
most often formed based on the economic power of the population and security. There are also
poor neighborhoods that may be hotbeds of negative social deviations and are characterized by
a lack of security of the population. This, in turn, requires the city authorities and the state to
invest additional resources in finding mechanisms that will remove such shortfalls and allow the
population greater equity and security. Urbanization is widely accepted by a large proportion
of the population, but there is also strong resistance in part of the population that opposes
modernization and urbanization and is attached to the traditional way of life in the rural areas.
The paper aims to emphasize some of the benefits, but also some of the challenges that are a
segment of the urbanization, that is, the migration of the population and urban security and the
quality of life of the population
Pesticides in the Modern World
The introduction of the synthetic organochlorine, organophosphate, carbamate and pyrethroid pesticides by 1950's marked the beginning of the modern pesticides era and a new stage in the agriculture development. Evolved from the chemicals designed originally as warfare agents, the synthetic pesticides demonstrated a high effectiveness in preventing, destroying or controlling any pest. Therefore, their application in the agriculture practices made it possible enhancing crops and livestock's yields and obtaining higher-quality products, to satisfy the food demand of the continuously rising world's population. Nevertheless, the increase of the pesticide use estimated to 2.5 million tons annually worldwide since 1950., created a number of public and environment concerns. This book, organized in two sections, addresses the various aspects of the pesticides exposure and the related health effects. It offers a large amount of practical information to the professionals interested in pesticides issues