The Trojan Horse in Your Head: Cognitive Threats and How to Counter Them

Vulnerabilities of the human mind caused by the way it is designed to process information have always been exploited in warfare, since the dawn of humanity. History is marked with frequent use of deceits and manipulations over the centuries, with examples ranging from the use of the Trojan Horse to Facebook’s user-profiling. While largely used over time, these tactics, that I call cognitive threats, have not been collectively examined. I hypothesize that they pose a security issue to which prevention strategies on different levels could be successfully applied. The research questions that this study asks are what the characteristics of these cognitive threats, and what specific techniques could be employed to counter them. To respond to them and to contribute to filling the gap in the literature, I describe four case studies that illustrate some of the most common types of cognitive threats in the 21st century - the case with Maria Butina, the case with Russian disinformation, the case with ISIS recruitment, and the case with Cambridge Analytica. Then I analyze them and suggest different approaches that are fit to respond to the contemporary political and psychological features of these cognitive threats. The findings from the study, the policy recommendations, and the additional measures I propose are grouped into six categories: creating alternatives, narrative change, official government statements, legislative measures, education, and awareness

A Gamefied Synthetic Environment for Evaluation of Counter-Disinformation Solutions

This paper presents a simulation-based approach to countering online dis/misinformation. This disruptive technology experiment incorporated a synthetic environment component, based on adapted SIR epidemiological model to evaluate and visualize the effectiveness of suggested solutions to the issue. The participants in the simulation were given a realistic scenario depicting a dis/misinformation threat and were asked to select a number of solutions, described in IoS (Ideas-of-Systems) cards. During the event, the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the IoS cards, were tested in a synthetic environment (SEN), built after a Susceptible-Infected-Resistant (SIR) model. The participants, divided into teams, presented and justified their dis/misinformation strategy which included three IoS card selections. A jury of subject matter experts, announced the winning team, based on the merits of the proposed strategies and the compatibility of the different cards, grouped together

Toward a Student-Ready Cybersecurity Program: Findings from a Survey of STEM-Students

As the number of available cybersecurity jobs continues to grow, colleges strive to offer to their cybersecurity students an environment which will make them sufficiently prepared to enter the workforce after graduation. This paper explores the academic and professional needs of STEM-students in various higher education institutions across Virginia and how cybersecurity programs can cater to these needs. It also seeks to propose an evidence-based approach for improving the existing cybersecurity programs so that they can become more inclusive and student-ready. A survey of 251 college students in four higher-education institutions in Virginia showed that while there are common patterns observed across gender and race, there are still areas in which more should be done regarding some of these groups. In particular, some discrepancies are observed across gender when it comes to students’ preparation with business fundamentals, the overall satisfaction of the received STEM education, and across race and ethnicity, when it comes to college advising, peer-mentoring, tutoring and faculty mentoring. The results from this study inform specific recommendations that will bring higher-education institutions and their cybersecurity program to a more student-ready level. Cover Page Footnote This research is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant DGE1914613 and the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative

Obesity in US Workers: The National Health Interview Survey, 1986 to 2002

Objectives. Obesity has emerged as one of the most important public health issues in the United States. We assessed obesity prevalence rates and their trends among major US occupational groups. Methods. Self-reported weight and height were collected annually on US workers, aged 18 years or older, from the 1986 to 1995 and the 1997 to 2002 National Health Interview Surveys. Overall, occupation-, race-, and gender-specific rates of obesity (defined as a body mass index>30.0 kg/m(2)) were calculated with data pooled from both study periods (n>600000). Annual occupation-specific prevalence rates were also calculated, and their time trends were assessed. Results. Obesity rates increased significantly over time among employed workers, irrespective of race and gender. The average yearly change increased from 0.61% (±.04) during the period from 1986 to 1995 to 0.95% (±.11) during the period from 1997 to 2002. Average obesity prevalence rates and corresponding trends varied considerably across occupational groups; pooled obesity prevalence rates were highest in motor vehicle operators (31.7% in men; 31.0% in women). Conclusions. Weight loss intervention programs targeting workers employed in occupational groups with high or increasing rates of obesity are urgently needed