Digital Commons Network^™

Going Global: The International Dimensions Of U.S. Homeland Security Policy, Austen D. Givens, Nathan E. Busch, Alan D. Bersin

Journal of Strategic Security

Scholarship examining U.S. homeland security policy proceeds from the assumption that homeland security policy-making is a largely domestic—that is, United States-centric—endeavor. This article challenges that assumption. The mission of the Homeland Security Enterprise is domestic security but achieving a satisfactory state of preparation, prevention, response, recovery and resilience requires efforts that extend beyond our boundaries. We argue that advances in technology and globalization have accelerated the degree to which global events directly and indirectly influence U.S. homeland security. Contemporary threats do not recognize national boundaries; efforts to counter them, accordingly, must transcend border lines as well. In this article, we …

Offensive And Defensive Security For Everyday Computer Systems, Ian Markwood

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation treats a variety of topics in the computer security domain which have direct impact on everyday life. The first extends false data injection attacks against state estimation in electric power grids and then provides a novel power flow model camouflage method to hamper these attacks. The second deals with automotive theft response, detailing a method for a car to intelligently identify when it has been stolen, based on collected behavioral traits of its driver. The third demonstrates a new attack against the content integrity of the PDF file format, caus- ing humans and computers to see different information …

An Economics Primer For Cyber Security Analysts, John T. Harvey

Military Cyber Affairs

One of the ingredients necessary to an understanding of the impact of cyber attacks is a reliable model of the economy. We face great challenges in trying to protect an already potentially unstable system from cyber aggression and operating with a flawed understanding of the determinants of output, employment, asset prices, et cetera, surely condemns us to failure. This is so not only because we need to know where points of leverage might exist for bad actors to disrupt and disable our system, but because policy recommendations may face significant push back from both selected scholars and powerful vested interests. …

Sticking To Their Guns: The Missing Rma For Cybersecurity, Lior Tabansky

Military Cyber Affairs

Why has cybered conflict disrupted the security of the most developed nations? A foreign adversary contemplating an attack on a developed nation's heartland certainly faces multiple state-run military-grade lines of defense on land, sea and air. A foreign adversary launching a direct cyber-attack on a non-military homeland target will meet none. Armed forces do not shield a society from cyber-attacks originated by foreign adversaries, no longer provide a buffer between the enemy and homeland, nor can they identify the attacker after an attack occurred.

Adversaries succeed in waging cybered conflict against the U.S. and its allies. Having repeatedly inflicted economic …

Cyber Futures And The Justice Motive: Avoiding Pyrrhic Victory, Mark Raymond

Military Cyber Affairs

Evaluating, and choosing between, possible cyber futures requires making collective decisions about values. Tradeoffs exist in the design of any governance arrangement for information and communications technologies (ICTs). At minimum, policymakers will be required to choose between governance arrangements that optimize for speed and scale on the one hand, and those that optimize for diversity and decentralization on the other. As in any other political domain, every eventual outcome will create winners and losers, at least in relative terms. Actors dissatisfied with outcomes may perceive a discrepancy between entitlements and benefits. In some such cases, they will act on this …

Defining A Class Of Cyber Weapons As Wmd: An Examination Of The Merits, Benjamin B. Hatch

Journal of Strategic Security

This article examines the merits of defining a class of offensive destructive cyber weapons as weapons of mass destruction (WMD). It analyzes the growing danger of destructive cyber weapons in the future joint operating environment and the devastating effects they may have in the physical domain. Further, it outlines evidence that specifically coded, offensive destructive cyber weapons would meet the spirit and intent of the three academic conditions for categorization as WMD. It argues the merits of categorizing a class of destructive cyber weapons as WMD, and addresses important factors required to examine advantages afforded to policy makers. Towards this …

Better Safe Than Sorry: The Relationship Between Locus Of Control, Perception Of Risk, And Cyber Misbehaviors, Kim Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Information security is of vital importance to organizations. Breaches in security very often stem from behaviors of the system operator. Cyber misbehaviors on the part of employees can have devastating repercussions on the well-being of an organization. Up to now, research has mainly focused on how to protect information systems from outside attack, and only recently have researchers turned to the part the operator plays in keeping the systems safe. The present study investigated some individual differences that may play a role in people’s cyber behavior. The purpose of the study was to determine if locus of control was related …