Traditional Threats Research Articles

Regional Security, Problems and Influencing Factors: A Case Study of Albania

The new national, regional and global security environment and its trends are expressed in a synthesized way in the National Security Strategy. Our region is increasingly characterized, on the one hand, by overcoming the old mindsets of confrontation between states and the perceptible reduction of traditional threats, by the promotion of a new spirit of cooperation and the values of integration in the collective security structures and on the other hand, it is facing a new nature of challenges, dangers and threats with non-traditional, asymmetric forms and contents, on terrorist, ethnic or other grounds, initiated by nationalist-extremist elements and groups. Receiving the long-awaited invitation to the Bucharest Summit in April 2008, as well as the final moment for NATO accession at the NATO Summit in Stratsburg and Kehl, marks a qualitative stage in the complete process of Albania in the Euro-Atlantic structures. In this new perspective, the security and defense of our country will suffer qualitative effects; from the concept of individual security and protection, it will finally be passed "de jure" to the concept of collective security and protection, accompanied by all the relevant benefits and contributions. Likewise, the new states of Kosovo and Montenegro have given our region a new favorable panorama of regional security. Going forward, our assessments of the security environment, expected risks and threats, and the spectrum of FARSH combat and non-combat missions will be significantly influenced by the collective security assessments articulated in the Alliance's Strategic Concept (CSC), Policy of European Security and Defense (ESDP) and the Charter of the United Nations. In this new perspective, in full accordance with the constitutional obligations, FARSH to adopt a new defense planning system, in harmony with the standards and planning processes of the Euro-Atlantic Alliance. Keywords: Influencing factors, Regional security, NATO, National security

Beyond Traditional Threats: A Persistent Backdoor Attack on Federated Learning

Backdoors on federated learning will be diluted by subsequent benign updates. This is reflected in the significant reduction of attack success rate as iterations increase, ultimately failing. We use a new metric to quantify the degree of this weakened backdoor effect, called attack persistence. Given that research to improve this performance has not been widely noted, we propose a Full Combination Backdoor Attack (FCBA) method. It aggregates more combined trigger information for a more complete backdoor pattern in the global model. Trained backdoored global model is more resilient to benign updates, leading to a higher attack success rate on the test set. We test on three datasets and evaluate with two models across various settings. FCBA's persistence outperforms SOTA federated learning backdoor attacks. On GTSRB, post-attack 120 rounds, our attack success rate rose over 50% from baseline. The core code of our method is available at https://github.com/PhD-TaoLiu/FCBA.

The power of generative AI in cybersecurity: Opportunities and challenges

This paper undertakes a comprehensive exploration of the potential and challenges presented by Generative Artificial Intelligence, with particular emphasis on the GPT models, in the field of cybersecurity. Through a meticulous examination of existing literature and pertinent case studies, the paper evaluates the capabilities of these models in the detection and rectification of vulnerabilities, as well as in identifying malicious code. It also highlights the pivotal role of generative AI in enhancing honeypot technology, which has shown promising results in proactive threat detection. While underscoring the significant advantages of utilizing generative AI in bolstering cybersecurity measures, the paper does not shy away from shedding light on the accompanying security exposures. These range from traditional threats like vulnerabilities and privacy breaches to novel dangers such as jailbreaking, prompt injection, and prompt leakage that are associated with the deployment of these AI models. The overarching objective of this paper is to contribute to the ongoing dialogue about the integration of advanced AI technologies into cybersecurity strategies while emphasizing the importance of vigilance against potential misuse. The paper concludes with a call for continued research and development to ensure a safer and more secure cyberspace for all.

A critical review of emerging cybersecurity threats in financial technologies

The rapid evolution of financial technologies (FinTech) has revolutionized the financial landscape, providing unprecedented convenience and efficiency. However, this technological advancement has also exposed the financial sector to an escalating array of cybersecurity threats. This paper presents a critical review of emerging cybersecurity threats in FinTech, analyzing the challenges and vulnerabilities faced by financial institutions in an era of increasing digitalization. The study delves into the complex landscape of cyber threats, exploring the spectrum from traditional threats, such as phishing and malware attacks, to sophisticated and evolving threats like ransomware, supply chain attacks, and artificial intelligence-driven cyber threats. The analysis highlights the interconnectedness of FinTech platforms, making them susceptible to systemic risks and cascading failures. Furthermore, the paper evaluates the impact of regulatory frameworks and compliance measures on mitigating cybersecurity risks in the FinTech domain. It assesses the effectiveness of current strategies and suggests potential enhancements to address the dynamic nature of cyber threats. A significant portion of the review focuses on the role of human factors in cybersecurity, emphasizing the need for robust training and awareness programs to empower financial professionals and users alike. Social engineering attacks, insider threats, and the exploitation of human vulnerabilities are discussed in detail, underscoring the importance of a holistic approach to cybersecurity. This critical review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the emerging cybersecurity landscape in FinTech. By shedding light on the evolving threats and vulnerabilities, the paper contributes to the ongoing discourse on safeguarding the integrity and security of financial technologies. As the financial industry continues to embrace technological innovations, a proactive and adaptive cybersecurity strategy is imperative to ensure the resilience of the financial ecosystem in the face of evolving cyber threats.

Cybersecurity threat perception technology based on knowledge graph

<p class="Abstract">The issue of complex sources, difficult to understand and share security threat intelligence, this paper realizes deep learning of threat intelligence features based on Restricted Boltzmann Machine, which graphs the original threat intelligence features from high dimensional space to low dimensional space layer by layer, and constructs the cyberspace security threat knowledge graphs. The deep learning used to build a multi-level and structured knowledge graph of cyberspace security threats can reflect the structural characteristics of the knowledge graph, making the graph have a lower dimension and a higher level of abstraction. The experiment verifies the feasibility of constructing the cyberspace security threat knowledge graph, and verifies the security threat perception method based on the knowledge graph is more suitable for the perception of high-intensity security threats by comparing with traditional threat detection methods.<strong></strong></p>

Military Medicine and Medical Research as a Source of Inspiration and Innovation to Solve National Security and Health Challenges in the 21st Century.

The history of military medicine and research is rife with examples of novel treatments and new approaches to heal and cure soldiers and others impacted by war's devastation. In the 21st century, new threats, like climate change, are combined with traditional threats, like geopolitical conflict, to create novel challenges for our strategic interests. Extreme and inaccessible environments provide heightened risks for warfighter exposure to dangerous bacteria, viruses, and fungi, as well as exposure to toxic substances and extremes of temperature, pressure, or both providing threats to performance and eroding resilience. Back home, caring for our veterans is also a health-care priority, and the diseases of veterans increasingly overlap with the health needs of an aging society. These trends of climate change, politics, and demographics suggest performance evaluation and resilience planning and response are critical to assuring both warfighter performance and societal health. The Cleveland ecosystem, comprising several hospitals, a leading University, and one of the nation's larger Veteran's Health Administration systems, is ideal for incubating and understanding the response to these challenges. In this review, we explore the interconnections of collaborations between Defense agencies, particularly Air Force and Army and academic medical center-based investigators to drive responses to the national health security challenges facing the United States and the world.

Legal framework for sustainable development and current global challenges

<p>The subject of the article is the formation of the legal framework for sustainable development in the context of modern global challenges. The subject of the legal framework is the social relations of sustainable development, which are regulated by separate branches of law, but in the aggregate form a separate branch of law. The legal foundations of sustainable development, formed under the influence of international cooperation processes, are currently exposed to new threats-illegitimate economic restrictions that call into question the previously stated goals of sustainable development. The purpose of the article is to review the current state and prospects for the development of the legal framework in the context of both traditional threats and new challenges caused by the external restrictions since 2014, and to assess the prospects for sustainable development in Russia. The main research method is the study of international and Russian scientific research literature, analytical and review materials from open sources using induction, deduction, analysis, synthesis and the method of analogies. In preparing the article, historical, statistical, system-structural and causal research methods were also used. It has been proved that the first year of the functioning of the national economy under the newly introduced sanctions in 2022 showed both their negative impact and a certain adaptive potential of the economic system and companies. The article is focused on the prerequisites for the formation, essence and subject of sustainable development law, as well as on methods of legal regulation and examples of legal mechanisms for incorporating sustainable development factors into business practices. The article raises the question of the legitimacy of unilateral economic sanctions from the point of view of international law. The article also assesses the impact of sanctions on the activities of companies and their commitment to the principles of sustainable development. The conclusion is made that business community considers the mechanisms of legal regulation of sustainable development as anti-crisis measures and considers those mechanisms to be expedient and justified in the long term to pursue a policy of maintaining a commitment to sustainable development and finding ways to overcome sanctions pressure.</p>

Climate Change, Climatic Hazards and National Security of Nepal

This article examines the impact of climate change on the national security of Nepal by studying secondary data from the Ministry of Home Affairs. The data covers the last five years and focuses on five climate hazards: flood, landslide, windstorm, forest fire, and avalanches. Through an analysis of the human and economic costs and the frequency of occurrence, the study identifies windstorms as an emerging threat to national security. The research highlights that climatic hazards are affecting Nepal's security, and the study particularly investigates their impacts in the past year. The human and economic costs caused by these climatic hazards were assessed based on factors such as: deaths, injuries, missing persons, affected families, destroyed houses, displaced sheds, and estimated monetary losses. The study indicates a fluctuation in the frequency and impacts of some climatic hazards due to climate change, with 2076 BS being the most destructive year. Traditional threats such as floods and landslides persist, while windstorms are increasingly becoming stronger. Additionally, the incidents of forest fires have risen in the last two years. Among the five hazards, avalanches seem to be the least destructive in terms of human and economic costs. The findings underscore the importance of addressing climate change to safeguard Nepal's national security.

Wild polar bear conservation: A case of successful arctic science diplomacy?

As poster child for the climate crisis and symbol of the circumpolar North, the polar bear has received considerable public and scholarly attention in recent years. A review of academic research on polar bear politics shows that many texts share a positive frame of polar bear conservation as a successful example of Arctic science diplomacy. Despite making such substantive claims, authors fail by and large to explain their reasoning or provide evidence of this success, aside from references to the 1973 Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears. This article hence evaluates the claim that polar bear conservation constitutes a successful case of Arctic science diplomacy. To do so, the paper establishes a set of success criteria for Arctic science diplomacy. Based on an analysis of policy, governmental, and scientific documents and interviews on polar bear management and conservation, the paper identifies two periods of polar bear science diplomacy, evaluating each based on the success criteria developed in this paper. The first period (1960–90s) is defined by traditional threats to polar bears that are addressed through successful Arctic science diplomacy. Though the second period (1990s-present) also features elements of successful science diplomacy, Arctic scientists and diplomats are unable to effectively address the now dominant threat of climate change, shifting authority away from the Arctic and towards the international realm of climate change research and politics. As the climate crisis continues to outrank and amplify traditional threats to ecosystems around the globe, the article argues that this shift in epistemic and diplomatic authority may be indicative of a fate awaiting other specialized science diplomacy communities worldwide.

Increased attention allocation to stimuli reflecting end-states of compulsive behaviors among obsessive compulsive individuals

Attentional research in OCD has focused solely on threat stimuli, assumed to provoke related obsessions and ensuing compulsions. OCD-related stimuli depicting the completion of compulsive acts (“end-states”) have yet to be examined. Past research also neglected to explore the reliability of tasks used. Here, attention allocation to both stimuli types was examined. Participants with high (HOC) and low (LOC) levels of obsessive–compulsive symptoms freely viewed three blocks of 30 two-by-two picture matrices, each including two OCD-related (cleaning\\checking\\ordering) and two neutral pictures, presented for eight seconds, while their gaze was recorded. Participants completed two task versions – one with traditional threat stimuli and one with novel stimuli signaling compulsions end-states. Only the end-state version yielded significant results, showing that HOC participants, compared to LOC participants, spent significantly more time fixating on OCD-related stimuli. Results remained significant after controlling for anxiety, stress, and depression. Task reliability was high. OCD-related stimuli signaling end-states of compulsive behavior should be incorporated in attentional research in OCD.

Internet of Things (IoT) Security and Private Concerns: An Overview

The number of Internet of Things (IoT) applications has greatly increased during the last two decades. Globally, more than half a billion electronic devices are connected. Due to their constant connection to the Internet, IoT applications are frequently targeted by a wide range of conventional threats, such as Trojan horses, worms, malware, spyware, and malicious code injections. It is apparent that traditional threats offer services like accountability, authorization, authentication, and these factors are typically used to identify a subject and determine whether the person is qualified to access the object. With the large numbers of connected devices, it is likely that IoT systems may become more vulnerable to threats and attacks with high-frequency electromagnetic radiation and more advanced viruses. Therefore, there is a pressing need to address these privacy and security concerns because it is insufficient to rely on currently used conventional procedures. This study identifies the knowledge and research gaps in this field by exploring the various dangers that IOT devices are vulnerable to, how these dangers operate and create a recovery mechanism to mitigate the harms. The study concludes by suggesting cutting-edge authentication methods like one-time password (OTP) ID- and password-based, three-factor/multi-factor and blockchain. Keywords: Architecture, Authentication, Internet of Things, Privacy, Security Proceedings Citation Format Mosud, Y. O., Ajulo, E.B. & Yinusa, A.B. (2023): Internet of Things (IoT) Security and Private Concerns: An Overview. Proceedings of the Cyber Secure Nigeria Conference. Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC) Abuja, Nigeria. 11-12th July, 2023. Pp 49-58 https://cybersecurenigeria.org/conference-proceedings/volume-2-2023/ dx.doi.org/10.22624/AIMS/CSEAN-SMART2023P7

Detecting False Data Injection Attacks in Industrial Internet of Things Using an Optimized Bidirectional Gated Recurrent Unit-Swarm Optimization Algorithm Model

The rapid adoption of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) paradigm has left systems vulnerable due to insufficient security measures. False data injection attacks (FDIAs) present a significant security concern in IIoT, as they aim to deceive industrial platforms by manipulating sensor readings. Traditional threat detection methods have proven inadequate in addressing FDIAs, and most existing countermeasures overlook the necessity of validating data, particularly in the context of data clustering services. To address this issue, this study proposes an innovative approach for FDIA detection using an optimized bidirectional gated recurrent unit (BiGRU) model, with the Sailfish Optimization Algorithm (SOA) employed to select optimal weights. The proposed model exploits temporal and spatial correlations in sensor data to identify fabricated information and subsequently cleanse the affected data. Evaluation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in detecting FDIAs, outperforming state-of-the-art techniques in the same task. Furthermore, the data cleaning process showcased the ability to recover damaged or corrupted data, providing an additional advantage.

Cyber Threat Analysis in Smart Terminal Systems

Cyber threats create significant factors that challenge traditional threat prevention mechanisms in harbor areas and port terminals. It has been recognized that understanding security functionalities in the harbor area is based on a more traditional experience of what it requires. It is not enough that the maritime and harbor ecosystem repeats only physical security service routines regarding random checks of passengers and vehicles and customs functions on cargo and passenger transportation. Smart environments and infrastructures are widely expanded in urban areas and create more challenges if old practices are combined with new technologies and functionalities. Traditional threats have changed to a combination of threat types. While developing cyber or physical threats may evolve into hybrid threats, it may prevent everyday harbor activities so that damage can become long-lasting and harm business continuity management. Therefore, it is essential to analyze cyber threat factors in Smart Terminal Systems. The research provides cyber threat and vulnerability analysis and the main attack vectors in the Smart Terminal systems. This research belongs in Finland to the maritime Sea4Value (S4VF) research program that includes Smart Terminals (SMARTER) project for harbor’s digitalization.

Terrorism and Jihadism in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Although from the very beginning of its existence the Islamic Republic of Iran has been regularly accused of supporting international terrorism, including Sunni organizations, this phenomenon is also a significant and growing threat for Tehran itself. In recent years Iran has become a target for the Sunni jihadists, who have even announced that in the near future the Shi’ite regime in Tehran would collapse and the Islamic State would take over. At the same time Iran has to cope with more traditional threats, posed by ethnic separatists – mainly Arabs, Kurds and the Baloch people – as well as by the MEK (People’s Mujahedin of Iran).
 This paper analyzes main terrorism-related threats to contemporary Iran and to present both their causes and dynamics. The main argument of the paper is that although these challenges are mainly local (provincial), they have a potential to trigger a snowball effects and can weaken already a vulnerable stability of the Islamic Republic even further. Moreover, it is argued that decision-makers in Iran do not solve structural problems, but react with a further securitization. A risk is even higher now, when an increasing number of Iranians have become highly dissatisfied with their living conditions.

Правовые основы устойчивого развития и современные глобальные вызовы

ABSTRACT The subject of the study is the formation of the law of sustainable development in the context of modern global challenges. The subject of law is social relations of sustainable development, which are regulated by separate branches of law, forming together a separate branch of law. The legal foundations of sustainable development, which have been formed under the influence of international cooperation processes, are currently being subjected to new threats — illegitimate economic sanctions restrictions that call into question the previously stated goals of sustainable development. The purposes of the work are to review the current state and prospects for the development of the legal framework in the context of both traditional threats and new challenges caused by the sanctions policy of Western countries, and to assess the prospects for sustainable development in Russia. It is established that the first year of the functioning of the Russian economy under sanctions showed both their negative impact and a certain adaptive potential of Russian companies. The prerequisites for the formation, essence and subject of the law of sustainable development, as well as methods of legal regulation on the examples of legal mechanisms for the inclusion of factors of sustainable development in the practice of companies are considered. The issue of the legitimacy of unilateral economic sanctions from the point of view of international law was raised. The impact of sanctions on the activities of Russian companies and their commitment to the principles of sustainable development is assessed. Conclusions are drawn that the business community considers the mechanisms of legal regulation of sustainable development as anti-crisis measures and considers it expedient and justified in the long term to pursue a policy of maintaining commitment to sustainable development and finding ways to overcome sanctions pressure.

Artificial Intelligence in Cyber Security

In the field of Cyber Security there has been a development from the stage of Cyber Criminality to the stage of Cyber War over the last few years. Even though security devices are becoming modern and powerful, cyber-attack or cyber threats are increasing day by day. The main cause for this cyber-attack is our traditional threat detection methods to identify the threat or malware are falling apart. Cybercriminals are every day coming up with competent ways to bypass the computer security devices or programs and infect the network and computer systems with various kinds of malicious software’s

Paradigm Shifts in Strategic Culture of Pakistan: An Assessment of Traditional versus Non-traditional Threat Perceptions

This study aims to establish a causal relationship that how nontraditional security challenges does not necessarily qualify to acquire a high-priority position in strategic decision-making of Pakistan owing to entanglement with traditional security concerns. The study examines that continual focus on traditional security issues has induced ‘tunnel vision trap’ where Pakistan cannot transit or at least reprioritize traditional national security challenges with non-traditional security concerns by applying securitization theory. The study finds out that even after displaying responsibility and caution in how it approaches strategic red lines within and beyond its region, its high prioritization of traditional threat perceptions weighs down on its internal nontraditional security concern. The research concludes that for Pakistan, even transitioning from geostrategic prioritization of national interest to the pursuit of geoeconomic objectives does not divorce its traditional security priority in decision-making. Such a tethered securitization architecture renders all transitionary junctions to its strategic culture futile or inconsequential.

A Review of Security and Privacy Concerns in the Internet of Things (IoT)

The recent two decades have witnessed tremendous growth in Internet of things (IoT) applications. There are more than 50 billion devices connected globally. IoT applications’ connectivity with the Internet persistently victimized them with a divergent range of traditional threats, including viruses, worms, malware, spyware, Trojans, malicious code injections, and backdoor attacks. Traditional threats provide essential services such as authentication, authorization, and accountability. Authentication and authorization are the process of verifying that a subject is bound to an object. Traditional authentication and authorization mechanisms use three different factors to identity a subject to verify if the subject has the right capability to access the object. Further, it is defined that a computer virus is a type of malware. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, and ransomware. There is a high probability that IoT systems can get infected with a more sophisticated form of malware and high-frequency electromagnetic waves. Purpose oriented with distinct nature IoT devices is developed to work in a constrained environment. So there is a dire need to address these security issues because relying on existing traditional techniques is not good. Manufacturers and researchers must think about resolving these security and privacy issues. Most importantly, this study identifies the knowledge and research gap in this area. The primary objective of this systematic literature review is to discuss the divergent types of threats that target IoT systems. Most importantly, the goal is to understand the mode of action of these threats and develop the recovery mechanism to cover the damage. In this study, more than 170 research articles are systematically studied to understand security and privacy issues. Further, security threats and attacks are categorized on a single platform and provide an analysis to explain how and to what extent they damage the targeted IoT systems. This review paper encapsulates IoT security threats and categorizes and analyses them by implementing a comparative study. Moreover, the research work concludes to expand advanced technologies, e.g., blockchain, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, to guarantee security, privacy, and IoT systems.

COVID-19: A Nontraditional Threat

The development of security studies in international relations since its origin has usually been related to safeguarding a country’s sovereignty from military and traditional threats from others. However, in this information and technological era, the essence of security has shifted from its distinctive meaning. The threats the world is facing today are subtle in form, difficult to predict, and intangible in most cases. Military might is no longer a threat. The COVID-19 pandemic is an excellent example that shows that future security threats can not only come as a large-scale military invasion but could be as tiny as an airborne virus. Battling these threats does not require conventional weapons but an obedient public attitude toward the government policies. For this reason, state security must be built not just by the state but also by the people. This article discusses COVID-19 as a nontraditional threat that has a profound impact on state and human security.
 Keywords: security, nontraditional threats, COVID-19

Detection of False Data Injection Attack using Machine Learning approach

The "False Data Injection" (FDI) attack is one of the significant security risks that the deep neural Network is susceptible to. The purpose of the FDI attacks is to deceive industrial platforms by faking sensor readings. considered a few relevant systematic reviews that have been previously published. Recent systematic reviews may include both older and more recent works on the topic. Therefore, I restricted myself to recently published works. Specifically, we analyzed data from 2016-2021 for this work. Attacks using FDI have effectively beaten out traditional threat detection strategies. In this paper, we provide an innovative auto-encoder-based technique for FDI attack detection (AEs). use of the temporal and spatial correlation of sensor data, which may be used to spot fake data. Additionally, the fabricated data are denoised using AEs. Performance testing demonstrates that our method is effective in finding FDI attacks. Additionally, it performs much better than a similar technique based on a support vector machine. The ability of the denoising AE data cleaning method to recover clean data from damaged (attacked) data is also shown to be quite strong.