Cracking Down On Cybercrime Global Response: The Cybercrime Convention

Computers and the Internet have brought innumerable benefits to society. They have revolutionized the way people work, play, and communicate. In spite of the benefits the Internet has introduced to the global community, it is also fraught with risks associated with undesirable elements keen to misuse its usage. Computers and the Internet present new ways to engage in old crimes, such as fraud and piracy. They also have made it possible for criminals to perpetrate new harmful acts, like data access and interference. However, national legislations and regional agreements are not sufficient to address the global nature of cybercrime. Therefore, in order to prosecute cybercrime as well as other types of crime, a common framework must be created that can punish these crimes irrespective of where they are committed. The International Cybercrime Convention has recently come into force focusing on an international solution to combat cybercrime. This paper analyses the implications of the new Cybercrime Convention on organisations and private individuals, and whether the requirements of the Convention balance the need for a criminal crackdown with the equally critical need to maintain basic freedoms

The Insider Threat

The Insider threat is defined similarly by experts in the information technology world for businesses, but addressing the threat has not been of great focus for most organizations. Technology and the Internet have grown exponentially over the past decade leading to changes in how business is conducted. Some basic business practices remain the same; protect the organization and its customers from breach of privacy. How data is gathered, stored, and retrieved has changed. Protecting the perimeter is still important, but these changes in technology now open the doors to a new threat; one that is known but not commonly protected against; the insider. Whether intentionally, or accidentally, the insider threat needs to be incorporated into the currently used security architectures and best practices. How should an organization include the insider threat to the current architecture is the question. Changes need to be made by organizations to the current security architecture. Currently, using technology is not enough, but is still necessary. In order to make it better, considering the employee as a whole and the daily activities necessary to complete a job, as well as working with other business units as a whole needs to be included in the architecture. Behavioral traits can be considered but there are issues in privacy that also need to be considered. Monitoring can be done, but that should not be the only thing considered. Employees lack knowledge as to why actions can have a negative effect on an organization and the way to address this is education. Educating end users is necessary and should be performed regularly to keep not just the technologically inclined up to date. Without education, the current technology used will continue to keep out the intruders, but will not be effective enough to protect against intentional and accidental misuse of the organization and its networks

Overcoming Data Breaches and Human Factors in Minimizing Threats to Cyber-Security Ecosystems

This mixed-methods study focused on the internal human factors responsible for data breaches that could cause adverse impacts on organizations. Based on the Swiss cheese theory, the study was designed to examine preventative measures that managers could implement to minimize potential data breaches resulting from internal employees\u27 behaviors. The purpose of this study was to provide insight to managers about developing strategies that could prevent data breaches from cyber-threats by focusing on the specific internal human factors responsible for data breaches, the root causes, and the preventive measures that could minimize threats from internal employees. Data were collected from 10 managers and 12 employees from the business sector, and 5 government managers in Ivory Coast, Africa. The mixed methodology focused on the why and who using the phenomenological approach, consisting of a survey, face-to-face interviews using open-ended questions, and a questionnaire to extract the experiences and perceptions of the participants about preventing the adverse consequences from cyber-threats. The results indicated the importance of top managers to be committed to a coordinated, continuous effort throughout the organization to ensure cyber security awareness, training, and compliance of security policies and procedures, as well as implementing and upgrading software designed to detect and prevent data breaches both internally and externally. The findings of this study could contribute to social change by educating managers about preventing data breaches who in turn may implement information accessibility without retribution. Protecting confidential data is a major concern because one data breach could impact many people as well as jeopardize the viability of the entire organization

The Fallacy of Nuclear Primacy

"The United States is easily deterred by any nuclear armed state, even by the most primitive and diminutive of nuclear arsenals." Bruce G. Blair is the President of the World Security Institute. Chen Yali is the editor in chief of Washington Observer

The need for international perspectives to solve global biosecurity challenges

Global biosecurity presents international challenges because the majority of instances of novel organism introductions are due to international movements of goods, food and people and the likelihood of introduced agents crossing political boundaries. The inherent vulnerability of environments to introductions of alien, or non-indigenous, biological agents is due to the greater ecological vulnerability to these exotic entrants in the receiving environment. Agencies and individuals responsible for approving intentional introductions of beneficial organisms recognize this relationship and consider potential impacts in risk assessments prior to release of the organisms. However, some of those responsible for detection and control of novel pathogens and pests, introduced either inadvertently or intentionally, lack extensive training in ecology, environmental biology, and pathology, and may therefore underestimate the risk from such events. The latter is a key factor in the case of food safety. Europe is particularly vulnerable to cross-border movement of introduced agents, and one response to this has been the recent revision of plant health regimes throughout the European Union. Other responses include project-based initiatives, such as PLANTFOODSEC