Security Community Research Articles

Democracy, Donald Trump and the Canada-US Security Community

AbstractThis article examines Canada-US relations through their shared membership in a pluralistic security community (PSC). While the bilateral relationship has been turbulent for decades, the Trump presidency has damaged the Canada-US PSC by (1) exacerbating a decades-long trend of weakened shared identity and mutual trust between Canadians and Americans, and (2) undermining the democratic norms and institutions that uphold American domestic stability and Canadians’ expectations of peaceful change. Assessing the combined implications of the decline in shared identity, mutual trust and democratic stability, I argue that the Canada-US PSC cannot endure if the United States does not also consider Canada's national and security interests or if the United States itself poses a threat to those interests. Given current trends, the future absence of war in North America may reflect American domination over a weaker and dependent Canada rather than their continued membership in a bilateral PSC.

Uma avaliação das ciberameaças e das migrações como desafios para a Comunidade de Segurança Pluralista da União Europeia na Ordem Mundial 2.0

This article departs from the assumption that European Union is a Pluralist Security Community resulting from symbiotic interactions between material and ideational variables such as beliefs, identities, material capabilities, borders, distribution/perception of power, anarchy and polarity, which gives to this theoretical model greater analytical consistency and ontological density. So, looking into the potential threats the EU is being confronted with and for the negative externalities they can generate in the near future, we are led to reflect on some paradigmatic issues: has the EU reached the limits of its capacity to effectively deal with contemporary challenges? Accordingly, is there a need for a new European concerted plan of action on security and defense issues? To verify how the EU has been tackling some of these challenges and how they impact the defining features of the EU as a Pluralistic Security Community, cybersecurity and migration were selected as our objects of analysis for being good examples of transnational problems the contemporary international system is being confronted with.

Using deep learning to solve computer security challenges: a survey

Although using machine learning techniques to solve computer security challenges is not a new idea, the rapidly emerging Deep Learning technology has recently triggered a substantial amount of interests in the computer security community. This paper seeks to provide a dedicated review of the very recent research works on using Deep Learning techniques to solve computer security challenges. In particular, the review covers eight computer security problems being solved by applications of Deep Learning: security-oriented program analysis, defending return-oriented programming (ROP) attacks, achieving control-flow integrity (CFI), defending network attacks, malware classification, system-event-based anomaly detection, memory forensics, and fuzzing for software security.

Applying for Settled Status: Ambivalent and reluctant compliance of EU citizens in post-Brexit Scotland

This article contributes to scholarship concerning the effects of the UK Referendum on EU membership and Brexit on EU citizen rights in the UK (Botterill, McCollum and Tyrrell, 2018 ; Burrell and Schweyher, 2019 ; Gawlewicz and Sotkasiira, 2019 ; Huber, 2019 ). The paper focuses on applications for, and meanings of, ‘settled status’ among Polish nationals living in urban and rural Scotland. In particular we argue that the ‘simple’ act of application produces diverse responses among Polish nationals, characterised by ambivalent and reluctant compliance, with longer term implications for ontological security and sustainable communities. In the paper we present empirical data from the perspectives of three differently positioned individuals to illustrate the heterogenous experience of Polish nationals in Scotland and to demonstrate how pre-existing vulnerabilities and conditions are compounded by the EU settlement scheme. First, we highlight a view of citizenship as ‘social contract’ through the vignette of Marek who expresses ambivalence about Brexit and for whom the welfare system serves both as a safety net and a space of the undeserving. Second, we reflect on the complex bureaucratic process of gaining citizenship for a family, through the vignette of Monika. Finally, we consider how form filling is an anxious act of validating oneself and questioning one's belonging to place with longer term effects on ontological insecurity, through the vignette of Weronika. We conclude by offering a set of recommendations for Scottish policy on intercultural communication, integration and sustainable communities that, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, is ever more significant.

The Effect of Imagined Social Contact on Chinese Students’ Perceptions of Japanese People

Social identity theory (SIT) suggests that perceived identity difference between groups predicts to intergroup conflict, including interstate conflict. Contact theory suggests that social contact between groups can help reduce intergroup conflict. Contact theory, however, has not traditionally focused on perceived identity difference, and it has not been tested much on real-world interstate conflicts. Employing an experimental design, our study tests for the effects of imagined social contact on Chinese students’ generally malign perceptions of identity difference with Japanese people. We find that imagined contact reduces key perceptions of difference by reducing both perceived Japanese malignity and perceived Chinese benignity. This suggests that social contact helps produce new hybrid in-group. By employing SIT, our findings provide a new microfoundation for contact theory, suggest an important process in the creation of security communities, and provide a proof of concept for public policies aimed at large-scale cultural exchanges.

FIELDABLE MASS SPECTROMETRY FOR FORENSIC SCIENCE, HOMELAND SECURITY, AND DEFENSE APPLICATIONS.

Mass spectrometry is commonly used in forensic chemistry laboratories for sensitive, definitive analysis. There have been significant efforts to bring mass spectrometry analysis on-site through the development of ruggedized, fieldable instruments. Testing samples in the field is of particular interest in forensic science, homeland security, and defense applications. In forensic chemistry, testing seized drugs in the field can significantly improve efficiencies in processing of related criminal cases. The screening of passengers and luggage at transportation hubs is a critical need for homeland security for which mass spectrometry is well suited to provide definitive answers with low false positive rates. Mass spectrometry can yield reliable data for military personnel testing sites for potential chemical weapons release. To meet the needs of the forensic and security communities fieldable mass spectrometers based on membrane inlet systems and hybrid gas chromatography systems have been developed and commercialized. More recently developed ambient ionization mass spectrometry methods can eliminate the time, equipment, and expertise associated with sample preparation, and so are especially appealing for on-site analysis. We describe the development of fieldable mass spectrometry systems, with emphasis on commercially available systems that have been deployed for on-site analysis of seized drugs, chemical warfare agents, explosives, and other analytes of interest to the forensic and security communities. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Mass Spec Rev.

Security Community Practices in the Western Balkans

Security Community Practices in the Western Balkans

NATO’s 360-degree approach to security: alliance cohesion and adaptation after the Crimean crisis

ABSTRACT In the mid-2010s NATO allies were facing the resurgence of a Russian threat at their borders, as well as terrorist actions in Europe and the MENA region. This evolving security environment provoked heated talks both within and outside NATO on its adaptation, often depicted as being the sign of irreconcilable disagreements. Conversely, this article argues that the "NATO 360-degree" concept adopted during the Warsaw Summit shows cohesion between the allies thanks to the Alliance's decision-making process. As a security community, member states were incentivised to find common grounds despite their diverging interests, which resulted in this new concept encompassing the "arc of insecurity". Its subsequent implementation also confirms the cohesion hypothesis, despite its obvious refocusing towards the East and collective defence. This article will first present the diverging threat perceptions within the Alliance. It will then focus on the implementation of the "NATO 360-degree" concept, promoted during the Warsaw summit, to finish with an initial assessment of the changes at work.

The Causes of Kidnapping and its Implications on Nigeria

The incessant incidences of kidnapping in Nigeria have grown into a severe National threat to its society and is ravaging the country’s socioeconomic wellbeing. The study aims to explore the national security and socioeconomic implications of this menace. The study applied the functionalism theoretical assumptions and employed Qualitative Document Analysis (QDA) based on the previous studies review conducted on kidnapping such as current literature, media reports, and newspaper to figure out the gap and come up with new findings on the causes of this menace. The study found that the government's reluctance to address such challenges is the force igniting heinous crimes in the country. It is due to the negligence of the Nigerian government to address the root-causes of the phenomenon such as; youth unemployment, quick-money syndrome, hard-drug influence, and others. The study suggests some measures such as public awareness programs, a synergic approach between the security forces and community police, appropriate sanctions, phone sim-card registration, quit ransom payment, and job creation.

Peran Asean Political Security Community (APSC) Dalam Mengontrol Peredaran Senjata Ringan Kaliber Kecil (SRKK) Illegal Di Kawasan Asia Tenggara

ASEAN as a regional organization in Southeast Asia plays a role in maintaining security in the region, the current security issues that go beyond the national borders requires cooperation between countries in the region to overcome solid. The problem of the circulation of illegal small arms light weapons interconnected with drug trafficking and other security problems that it becomes an important issue that must be addressed in the form of security kawasan. One of role of ASEAN is through the ASEAN Political Security Community that focuses on creating and maintaining regional Southeast Asian conflict-free stail security. Through the existence of regional organizations is the one of each member state of mutual trust and work together to address transnational security issues, with the APSC ASEAN to perform its role as a regional organization. This study aims to look at how the process of cooperation that occurs among ASEAN member countries to create a stable regional security in accordance with the principles contained in the Declaration of ASEAN and the ASEAN Charter Bangkok. Researchers also want to know whether the role of ASEAN through the formation of APSC produce positive results for addressing regional security issues that can be resolved only running by the state. To achieve this, the researchers used the theory of roles, and concepts such as international organizations, the role of international organizations, international regimes are also cooperative security. The method used in this study is a qualitative research method with a descriptive case study technique, techniques of data collection using interviews and literature studies. The results of this study indicate that although the role of ASEAN has been run by the APSC but the results shown on the formation of APSC until now did not show any significant eduction and effectiveness have not seen real APSC.

Narrative Framing and the United States’ Threat Construction of Rivals

Abstract Constructing a credible foreign threat is a key activity in the US national security community. By adopting a narrative approach to threat formation, we attempt to delineate the contours of the Soviet Union, Japan, and China in the US threat discourse spectrum. The Soviet threat is constructed through a story of two ideologically opposed rivals competing for world domination and the Japan-bashing narrative is of victimisation due to Japan’s unfair competition. China threat stories, however, are now more complex, conflating a story of US victimhood at the hands of China’s unfair competition, advocated by President Trump, with a widely embedded but malleable epic tale of power competition between a rising power and the ruling power, and a new Cold War script propagated by the 'deep state' hawks. We have found that as long as a country may potentially threaten the United States’ hegemonic identity, be it a formidable power with an antagonistic outlook like the Soviet Union, an ally from inside like Japan, or a rising peer competitor like China, the United States will invariably construct a diametrical self-other story in a zero-sum mindset and resort relentlessly to its superior Self while customising its threat story scripts in accordance with the rival’s characteristics and dimensions of challenges.

Conceptual visions of regional and global security

Introduction. Under the influence of globalization and regionalization; the world economic development is becoming more dynamic but contradictory at the same time; creating new challenges and threats for both individual countries and entire regions. This exacerbates the urgency of forming flexible systems of security cooperation and finding solutions to regional and global security problems.Purpose. The purpose of the paper is to systematize research on regional and global security governance and a review of the balance of geopolitical forces in Europe.Methods. The research was carried out using the following methods: analysis and synthesis – to characterize the modern mainstream of theoretical intelligence in the field of regional security; comparative analysis – to compare the structures of regional security management in different parts of the world; deductions and inductions – to form a conceptual model of global governance; tabular and visual methods – for visual presentation of the material.Results. The paper considers theoretical approaches to the interpretation of regional security. It is noted that regional security governance is a set of institutions and activities at three levels: global; regional and national. A nomenclature of different types of regional security governance structures is presented; which includes a regional balance of power and ad hoc (informal) alliances; regional coherence; regional cooperative security; regional collective defense; regional collective security; pluralistic security community. It has been recognized that regional security management is provided not only by highly specialized or formal structures; but also by multi-purpose regional organizations; which initially pursued a combination of economic and political goals with growing security targets. Conceptual options for regional security governance at the global and regional levels are systematized. Based on the analysis of the mechanisms of global management; own vision of the relationship between the subjects of global governance processes is presented.Discussion. The crisis of recent decades has shown that no single group of global governance actors can act effectively to minimize global risks; which are both a challenge for business leaders and politicians in any country. That is why it is undeniable that global issues require global governance (especially in the field of security); the main goal of which should be to ensure global stability and sustainable development.

EU-Japan Agreements: Content, Context and Implications

The article analyses the agreements concluded by the EU with Japan: Economic Partnership Agreement, Strategic Partnership Agreementand the negotiated agreement: Investment Protection Agreement. EPA liberalizes trade in goods and services. By setting the legal framework for a strategic partnership, SPA facilitates cooperation against common challenges. IPA will regulate standards for investment protection and disputes resolution.
 The analysis consists: – the content of the Agreements; – socio-economic and political potential of the parties; – EU’s legal powers to negotiate and conclude agreements, and its competence, whether exclusive or shared, to enter into these Agreements; – the importance of Agreements for their parties and for other international actors as well as for regional, trans-regional and global relations.
 The thesis of the study is the statement that in a world where instability is increasing and security is reduced, the parties are fulfilling their, as real great powers, obligation to bear special responsibility for the implementation of the values represented. The Agreements confirm the community of values on which they are embedded and create conditions for strengthening these values.
 The study consists of five parts. First we analyse the subject matter of the Agreements , then their actors, and the reasons of concluding them and why. In part IV \we explain the importance of the Agreements for the contracting parties and for the international community, and in part V we concentrate on the Agreements as seen from the external perspective.
 The conclusions state that the Agreements institutionalise security communitywhere the security and defence policy component is still relatively weak, but is also being developed. The agreements making closer political and economic ties between the UE and Japan open the way to creation of the EU’s security community with “democratic diamonds” in the Asia–Pacific region.

China’s Tributary System and National Security in the Song Dynasty

Abstract China’s ancient tributary system not only served the vanity of the dynasty but had multiple political implications, closely tied to the dynasty’s national security. The Song dynasty’s [960-1279] notion of security followed an overall policy of guarding the dynasty against external threats, surrounding barbarian nations, and maintaining domestic order. The stability and eventual collapse of the tributary system were closely tied to the domestic security of the Song dynasty and to the security of all the countries that participated in the system. The system constituted a dynamic and interactive security community.

Nuclear and radiation threats as resources for modeling the security community on the example of the Abkhaz political crisis

Nuclear and radiation threats as resources for modeling the security community on the example of the Abkhaz political crisis

Early detection of crypto-ransomware using pre-encryption detection algorithm

Crypto ransomware is a type of malware that locks its victim’s file for ransom using an encryption algorithm. Its popularity has risen at an alarming rate among the cyber security community due to several successful worldwide attacks. The encryption employed had caused irreversible damage to the victim’s digital files, even when the victim chooses to pay the ransom. Therefore, this research proposes the Pre-Encryption Detection Algorithm (PEDA) that can detect crypto-ransomware at the pre-encryption stage, when no encryption has been done. PEDA provides two levels of detection; the first level of detection was before the ransomware can be activated using a signature comparison with a known crypto-ransomware’s signature. The signature was generated using SHA-256 (Secure Hashing Algorithm) that allowed fast and accurate comparison of the file content. The second level of detection used Learning Algorithm (LA) that can detect crypto-ransomware based on pre-encryption application program interface (API). The LA produced a 100% recall rate based on 80:20 ratios of training and testing, and 99.9% recall rate with a 10-fold cross-verification test. In addition, this research had also successfully identified fourteen important APIs that can differentiate between ransomware and goodware. Three APIs were present in most ransomware, but less in goodware; these APIs were NtProtectVirtualMemory, NtResumeThread, and NtTerminateProcess. Eleven APIs, on the other hand, were mostly present in goodware, but less in ransomware; these APIs were NtWriteVirtualMemory, UuidCreate, NtDelayExecution, NtSetInformationFile, NtWriteFile, CreateThread, NtReadVirtualMemory, VirtualFreeEx, CreateDirectoryW, VirtualProtectEx, and SetFilePointer.

Isolating Insecurely: A Call to Arms for the Security and Privacy Community During the Time of COVID-19

Presents the introductory editorial for this issue of the publication.

The NASA Hydrological Forecast System for Food and Water Security Applications

AbstractMany regions in Africa and the Middle East are vulnerable to drought and to water and food insecurity, motivating agency efforts such as the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) to provide early warning of drought events in the region. Each year these warnings guide life-saving assistance that reaches millions of people. A new NASA multimodel, remote sensing–based hydrological forecasting and analysis system, NHyFAS, has been developed to support such efforts by improving the FEWS NET’s current early warning capabilities. NHyFAS derives its skill from two sources: (i) accurate initial conditions, as produced by an offline land modeling system through the application and/or assimilation of various satellite data (precipitation, soil moisture, and terrestrial water storage), and (ii) meteorological forcing data during the forecast period as produced by a state-of-the-art ocean–land–atmosphere forecast system. The land modeling framework used is the Land Information System (LIS), which employs a suite of land surface models, allowing multimodel ensembles and multiple data assimilation strategies to better estimate land surface conditions. An evaluation of NHyFAS shows that its 1–5-month hindcasts successfully capture known historic drought events, and it has improved skill over benchmark-type hindcasts. The system also benefits from strong collaboration with end-user partners in Africa and the Middle East, who provide insights on strategies to formulate and communicate early warning indicators to water and food security communities. The additional lead time provided by this system will increase the speed, accuracy, and efficacy of humanitarian disaster relief, helping to save lives and livelihoods.

Multiple layer encryption and steganography via multi-channel ghost imaging

Multiple layers of information security are introduced based on computational ghost imaging (CGI). We show, in the first step, that it is possible to design a very reliable image encryption scheme using 3D computational ghost imaging with two single-pixel detectors sending their data through two channels. It is then shown that further level of security can be achieved by merging data carrying channels into one and using a coded order for their placement in the sequence of bucket data carried by the single channel. Through the Normalized Root Mean Square scale, we show that the second security level is a one step forward. Yet another layer of security is introduced through hiding the actual grayscale image (or even a color image) inside another image (object) before the ghost imaging process such that the hidden image cannot be recognized by the naked eye. We then successfully retrieve the hidden image from a CGI-reconstructed image despite the presence of noise while such noises make steganography impossible by conventional methods. We show that CGI-based steganography is intrinsically robust to attacks involving manipulation of the image matrix and pixels. As for the cryptography attacks, it is shown that the proposed scheme increases the security and robustness such that an attacker needs more than 96 percent of the coded order to recover the hidden image. Storing a gray scale image in a ghost image and retrieving different intensities for the hidden image is unprecedented and could be of interest to the information security community. We also present performance, robustness and attack analyses and show that our layered configuration for information encryption based on CGI successfully passes these checks.

Treant: training evasion-aware decision trees

Despite its success and popularity, machine learning is now recognized as vulnerable to evasion attacks, i.e., carefully crafted perturbations of test inputs designed to force prediction errors. In this paper we focus on evasion attacks against decision tree ensembles, which are among the most successful predictive models for dealing with non-perceptual problems. Even though they are powerful and interpretable, decision tree ensembles have received only limited attention by the security and machine learning communities so far, leading to a sub-optimal state of the art for adversarial learning techniques. We thus propose Treant, a novel decision tree learning algorithm that, on the basis of a formal threat model, minimizes an evasion-aware loss function at each step of the tree construction. Treant is based on two key technical ingredients: robust splitting and attack invariance, which jointly guarantee the soundness of the learning process. Experimental results on publicly available datasets show that Treant is able to generate decision tree ensembles that are at the same time accurate and nearly insensitive to evasion attacks, outperforming state-of-the-art adversarial learning techniques.