OJS (University of Applied Sciences Velika Gorica)
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An Overview of the Covid-19 Crisis Management in Cameroon: Decentralised Governance Response Needed
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This article provides insights into Cameroon’s crisis management of the coronavirus pandemic via an exploratory and descriptive qualitative research. Thematic analysis of data was done using a framework approach; the Comprehensive Pandemic Risk Management System (CPRMS) underpins the research and provided structure, order, and clarity to the article. From the findings, one can deduce that the government is working hard to mitigate the potentially awful consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. The authorities implemented temporary containment and infection control measures to stem virus spread and have relied heavily on international and humanitarian organisations for financial/technical help to operationalise the pandemic response. Attempts to control the spread of the virus, however, have been challenging. Deficiencies abound in many areas including slowness to institute containment measures after the first infected cases; Cameroon’s fragile/weak health infrastructure; insufficient critical care units and health workers disproportionately distributed in the country; safety concerns with insufficient protective equipment for health workers; overly centralised pandemic response at the national level to the detriment of the regions and lower administrative units; government politicising the response by refusing contributions/donations from opposition parties; high cost for COVID-19 treatment limiting access to healthcare and insufficient trust in health systems ability to deal with COVID-19. Recommendations are supplied on how to improve the coronavirus response as infections skyrocket. The recommendations also address enhancing later epidemics/pandemics and Cameroon’s health system
Artificial Intelligence Techniques to Prevent Cyber Attacks on Smart Grids
No full textEnergy is one of the main elements that allows society to maintain its living standards and continue as usual. For this reason, the energy distribution is both one of the most important and targeted by attacks Critical Infrastructure. Many of the other Critical Infrastructures rely on energy to work reliably. Some states are particularly interested in getting stealth access to -and take control of- energy production and distribution of other Nations. This way they can create huge disruption and get a significant advantage in case of conflict. In the recent past, we could observe some real-life demonstrations of this fact. The introduction of smart grids and ICT in the management of energy infrastructures has great benefits but also introduces new attack surfaces and ways for attackers to gain control. As a benefit, we can also collect more data and metrics to better understand the state of the grid. New techniques based on Artificial Intelligence and machine learning can take advantage of the available data to help the protection of the infrastructures and detect ongoing threats. Smart Meters which are connected intelligent devices spread over the grid and the geographical distribution of the population. For this reason, they can be very useful data collection assets but also a target for attack. In this paper, the authors consider and analyze various innovative techniques that can be used to enhance the security and reliability of Smart Grids
Your hospital needs you: Eliciting positive cybersecurity behaviours from healthcare staff
No full textStaff behaviour plays a key role in the cybersecurity position of an organisation. Despite this, behaviour-change interventions are not commonly applied within the field of cybersecurity. Behaviour change technique could be particularly beneficial given increasing concerns around healthcare cybersecurity risks; particularly following the 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack which had devastating results on healthcare services. Cyber-risk is particularly concerning within healthcare given the criticality of medical systems and the potential impacts of a cyberbreach or attack. In worst case scenarios, cybersecurity incidents could result in patient harm or even fatalities. Whilst there has been concerted investment in improving healthcare’s technological defences against cyberthreat, the same level of investment has not been made in healthcare staff. This has left staff behaviour as a vulnerability which can be exploited by attackers. This paper introduces a structured approach to help organisations work through four key steps that we refer to as the AIDE approach to Assess, Identify, Develop and Evaluate behaviour change techniques to facilitate more secure behaviour. We include a worked example of how we are applying this approach to the development of interventions to mitigate insecure cybersecurity behaviours in a healthcare context
Cybersecurity Talent Shortage
No full textDifferent reports show that organizations face a number of hurdles in their efforts to better protect sensitive data. Most frequently mentioned is the challenge of enforcing security policy across the data lifecycle (57%), followed by lack of expert staff (50%), and lack of budget (48%). This article includes the statistics regarding cybersecurity threats and attacks, professionals’ shortage and the expected knowledge, skills and experience for doing this kind of job. Also the article offers some possible solutions for solving this problem, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of different options
Measures to Improve the Cybersecurity of Critical Infrastructure in Brazil
No full textIn the current context of global interconnectivity, the cybersecurity of critical infrastructures (CI) is of utmost importance to the private and public sectors. In this regard, based on the analysis of elaborated guidelines and norms, gaps were identified that may hinder the implementation of CI protection measures, facing threats of all kinds, affecting population well-being, economic power and contributing to weakening the reputation of a country in the concert of nations. Considering the dynamic nature and the speed of technological evolution, this study aims to raise subsidies for the improvement of the cybersecurity of CI in Brazil, pointing out norms to be elaborated or adopted, good practices and strategic actions to be followed. The methodology used in the development of this work begins with bibliographic and document research, and through comparative analysis, points out the most relevant, existing standards and initiatives. A diagnosis of the Brazilian situation is provided including field research, a solution proposal and finally an analytical discussion of proposed actions
Historical Perspectives and Legal Aspects of Cyber Warfare
No full textHistorical development of cyber warfare follows three major historical periods: first period follows the technological advances of information technology during the 1980s until the end of the Cold War in 1990, second period is from the end of the Cold War to the terrorist attacks in United States during 11-th september 2001 year and the third period is from the terrorist attacks in United States during 11-th september 2001 year onwards. Each of the mentioned historical periods follows a specific doctrine and strategy of dealing with the national security threats from cyberspace. The world super powers and the world states, introduce appropriate strategies and national policies to deal with the consequences of this kind of warfare. Expression of cyberspace is linked to a short story titled "Burning Chrome" in the 1982 year written by American author William Gibson. In the following years, this word turned out to be conspicuously related to online PC systems. According to NATO, people are part of cyberspace. According to this, NATO defines that cyberspace is more than just internet, including not only hardware, software and information systems, but also peoples and social interaction with these networks. The first cyber warfare weapon ever known in history was Stuxnet. Stuxnet's objective was to physically annihilate a military target. Stuxnet has contaminated more than 60,000 PCs around the world, mostly in Iran. While international cooperation is essential, each nation should in near future develop a National foundation, its own national cyber security strategy, authorities and capabilities. Every nation state, should require effective coordination and cooperation among governmental entities at the national and sub-national levels as well as the private sector and civil society. The main hypothesis of this paper is to present the historical development and perspectives of cyber warfare and accordingly propose the best legal concepts, national doctrines and strategies for dealing with this modern type of warfare
Conceptualization of Information Operations in Modelling the Understanding of a Security Environment
Get PDFDefining the security environment, which is a prerequisite for the process of defining security policies, is based on gathering and evaluating information on the political, economic, military, security, social and other characteristics of a given environment. The process of gathering and evaluating information is increasingly susceptible to external influences and manipulations via information operations of state and non-state actors, particularly with the development of information technologies. The hypothesis of this paper is that information operations influence the understanding of a security environment and as a consequence, the process of defining security policies. Based on the described hypothesis, the paper conceptualizes information operations in the modelling of the understanding of a security environment and consequently the determination of security policies, using an analysis of certain aspects of information operations and their influence on the information and information systems of the adversary
The Security Challenge of Disruptive Technologies
Get PDFDynamic changes that characterize the modern security environment have been significantly driven and shaped by the rapid pace of technological development. Of particular importance is the emergence and development of technologies that revolutionary change the character of the security environment - disruptive technologies.
The paper analyzes disruptive technologies aimed at the automation, acceleration and autonomy of the data processing process, decision-making abilities, and actions independent of human factor. These technologies affect all spheres of social life and subsequently security.
Unlike previous disruptive technologies that influence security driven by the states and their defense sectors, the recent technologies are predominantly developing in private sector. This fact leads the countries to dependency on the private sector, and face them with significant challenges in identifying threats, its content and possible responses. Technologically less developed countries are particularly vulnerable.
Based on the hypothesis of how disruptive technologies influence the design of security environments, an analysis of strategic security documents of Croatia, the USA, Russia, China, NATO, EU, and the states from the Croatian neighborhood has been conducted to determine if these countries recognize disruptive technologies as a security threat and how they approach them.
The research has shown that Croatia does not recognize disruptive technologies as a specific threat. The analysis also indicates that, in the case of technologically less developed countries, such as the case of Croatia, security communities such as the EU or NATO provide a platform for responding to those threats
Business Intelligence and Business Continuity: Empirical Analysis of Croatian Companies
Get PDFBusiness Intelligence (BI) is an important strategic resource for business decision making. It is a cyclical system comprised of several seperate phases; planning and direction, data collection, processing and data analysis, and dissemination or distribution of information to the business decision makers. The passing and maturation of the third and fourth scientific revolutions, in which the rate of data flow has surpassed that of goods and services, has made timely, accurate and relevant information the key resource for business continuity. In Croatia, two comprehensive surveys on the BI application within the largest companies have been conducted. The first survey, from October 2010 to April 2011, indicated a low level of application and understanding of the BI system and its benefits. The cross-sectional follow-up survey from March to July 2017 showed that although significant changes did not occur, there are indicators of potentially adverse effects on the health and security of Croatian business entities and overall Croatian economic security. The paper presents the conclusions of the 2017 survey which comprised a sample size of the 1000 highest grossing companies operating in Croatia, along with a short comparison to the initial survey from 2010/2011. Considering that the BI system encompasses the internal, but primarily external environment of a business entity with respect to four key intelligence topics (decisions, key players, early warnings associated with possible threats or opportunities and business counterintelligence), the paper argues that a lack of knowledge on BI and low level of application of BI activities can significantly affect business continuity. In other words, non-application of business intelligence activities can lead to income loss, loss of competitive advantage, loss of data and productivity, cost increase, violation of law and regulations and even to the temporary or complete business downfall
Climate Related Business Continuity Model for Critical Infrastructures
Get PDFClimate change is more and more nowadays acknowledged to be associated with the natural hazards for which the society, and its Critical Infrastructures, need to anticipate and plan. The impact the climate-related hazards have to the functionality of different Critical Infrastructures (CI) is being discussed, focusing on the minimization of the disruption time of their critical services. This is achieved by means of a Business Continuity plan that is based on Business Impact Analysis and Risk Assessment of projected weather-related hazards. Business continuity planning is essential part of the resilience framework of the CIs, which EU-CIRCLE project proposes with regards to climate change. Guidelines are presented in order to provide a planned and controlled method for anticipating and responding to events that are likely to interrupt key business activities (Business Continuity Model) and suggestions upon adaptation of CIs to climate change are also given. For this purpose, information was collected from CI operators with regards to existing BC plans and adaptation measurements, by means of questionnaires, which is also presented herein