Homeland Security/ Journal & Article review

Homeland Security/ Journal & Article review

Article Reviewed: Cyber Threats in the 21st Century

Alexander, Dean. Security; Troy Vol. 49, Iss. 9, (Sep 2012): 70,72,74,76.

The article “Cyber threats in the 21st century” by Alexander, Dean seeks to address the five most harmful and leading issues in the cyberspace. The main issues being addressed in this article are cyber-crime, cyber-attacks, cyber espionage, cyber terrorism, and cyber warfare. From the abstract of the article, it is clear that there exist different opinions about some cyberspace features and also some discord on the above crucial cyberspace terminologies (Alexander, 2012). The harmful cyberspace activities each involve different processes, all with different goals and inspirations though some similarities appear at times. The article provides a critical analysis of the leading operations in the space, describing how harmful they are.

Summary of the Article

It is clear from the abstract down to the body of the article that the cyber revolution has created a lot of harm to individuals, cooperation, and even countries. The author starts by explaining that the cyberspace revolution has created discord regarding specific terms. There is very little difference in the five leading harmful activities in the cyberspace (Alexander, 2012). According to the author of this article, cyber-attacks are on the rise due to the increased internet interconnection and also the due to the availability and easy access of information on the technology configuration of the control systems.

A lot of countries have faced cyber-attacks in the past. Many other countries continue to face these attacks, and this has become a global issue. Some of the superpower nations have better strategies and mechanisms of dealing with cyber-attacks, and this has made other developing countries to count on the superpower countries for handling the cyber threats for them. The author acknowledges that assigning this responsibility to another country may lead to retaliation from the attackers.

Critique of the Article

Cyber-crime refers to the use of computers to promote crimes and other illegal acts such as engaging in fraud activities, violating the privacy, among other ill actions. The author differentiates this from cyber-attack by describing how cyber-attack involves damaging, disrupting, or stealing data (Alexander, 2012). Cyber espionage, on the other hand, consists of the use of computers to gain unauthorized access to confidential information. According to Alexander, cyber-attacks leads to loss of integrity through interfering with information; crucial information is also lost hence made unavailable for use. It additionally aims at affecting the privacy of information through making it accessible to unauthorized individuals and causes information destruction through physical harm to the data leafing to malfunctions in the data storage commands.

Cyberattacks majorly target crucial data involving big organizations and corporations and government entities. They target sensitive information on critical government bodies such as the military. Cyberterrorism has been used in recent years for political gain or for settling political scores. According to the author, it involves undertaking violent acts through the internet. Such actions include life threats or bodily harm to individuals and usually done through threats and or intimidation.

Cyber terrorism can take different dimensions. The author describes different views of cyber terrorism; to some, it is terrorist activities carried out by terrorists on the internet. The activities involve intimidating and blackmailing the government for political or social gains. To other people, this is a different act from terrorism. The author further classifies cyber terrorism into two categories, namely target-oriented (or attack) cyber terrorism and tool-oriented cyber terrorism. He also goes ahead to describe the main differences between the two highlighting the main difference as the intent that the perpetrator has.

Cyberwarfare, according to the author, is the attempt by the government or an international organization to damage another country’s vital data through the use of computers, this is meant to destroy, disrupt or weaken the country and its operations. The author further explains that information three principles pertain to information warfare; these principles include gathering intelligence, launching attacks, and providing protection to assets. The cyber warfare activities involve the use of systems to gain power and control over the information of a rival. It, therefore, pertains to attacking the enemy’s information system through the use of computers and other technological devices.

Another vital area that the author touches on is the nature of cyber threats. Cyber threats are a serious threat to many countries, with most of them devising strategies to protect themselves from threats and cyber insecurities. The author provides some interesting statistics on cyber-attacks; there is an average of between 2000-3000 cyber-attacks every single day across the world (Alexander, 2012). This is very scaring statistics that reveal how bad the situation is.  This causes a lot of damage to the private organization and the government as well. Handling cyber threats has its challenges, despite being an expansive affair, it is also challenging to ascertain an attack that is underway or determine the individuals being the threat. It additionally requires resources and advanced skills. There is also the emergence of Botnets that the author describes as the weapon used in cyber threats.

Conclusion

The article has very insightful information on cyber threats. It also provides information on how cyber threats have managed to continue being a problem for businesses and the government. Different attack methods are also discussed in this article, with the author also analyzing different challenges that cyber-attacks cause. The five harmful cyberspace activities are well explained with different examples of each provided. It is a good article with crucial information to private organizations, international organizations, and even for various governments since cyber threats have become rampant.

Article Reviewed:  A Vision for Human Systems Integration in the U. S. Department of Homeland Security

Wilson, D. P., Malone, T. B., Lockett-Reynolds, J., & Wilson, E. L. Vol. 53, No. 24, pp. 1839-1843).

The article “A Vision for Human Systems Integration in the U. S. Department of Homeland Security” is a piece by Wilson, Malone & Lockett-Reynolds (2009). The article seeks to show the importance of the critical element of human performance in the success of the difficult, technology-backed manpower-deprived homeland security organisms. The article is vital since the integration of human performance and skills will assist in improving the process of designing, planning, and developing systems acquisitions in the department of homeland security. The article appears to be well written, with clear interpretations of data and information cited from other sources.

Summary of the Article

            The article establishes that the DHS of the United States was established not more than five years prior to the time when the work was written. The Human Factors Division (HFD) was developed within the DHS Science & Technology directorate. Wilson et al. (2009) state that the DHS is comprised of 22 organizations that were combined under a command center firm that is still at work on the logistics of functioning as an integrated agency. The incorporation of public perception and user requirements is vital to the structure life sequence of a particular DHS program.

The expertise deployed and created by DHS are used inside the whole United States and implicates all the inhabitants of the state, and that is why DHS is different from the Department of Defense. DHS technology users represent a population that is far different in terms of age, skills, training quality and quantity, readiness, and intelligence. The author concludes that the paper shows a vision for the implementation of HIS in the DHS, dwelling on both research and engineering strategies and efforts to accomplish the objectives in those regions.

Critique of the Article

            The author is able to clarify that in the 21^st century, the manpower homeland security systems are limited. This is supported by Novak et al. (2010), who states that the HSI is working together with the DHS to come up with a plan to improve the development, design, and ——planning of the acquisitions of the system within the DHS. From the perspective of the HIS, the greatest objective is to down surge the human performance risks and upsurge human performance by identifying gaps that address established insufficiencies in the constituencies.

The article establishes that the HFD has created the HSRE (Human Systems Research and Engineering) program, where it has given it the duty of coming up with an approach for including the HSI into the development, acquisitions, and research by the DHS. According to Novak et al. (2010), the HSRE program has developed that the most critical determiner of mission success for the high impact, technology-based, complex manpower-deprived homeland security is human performance. Similar research by Novak et al. (2010) confirms the validity and truthfulness of the findings of the author.

Wilson et al. (2009) commendably argues that even though there are similarities between the DHS and the DoD when it comes to development of research and technology to make better the security and safety of the nation, the DHS is different in that the deployed and developed technologies by it are used all over the U.S, and they implicate all the citizens. Novak et al. (2010) add that the DHS also has some principles which are made up of seven guiding and overreaching critical assumptions and rules that give an overview of the HSI’s subject matter and are directed at the fundamental mechanisms, objectives, and goals for the HSI application.

The piece provides a recommendation for the DHS, where it states that it is vital for the DHS also to understand the obstacles and the barriers that are connected with usability, reliability, affordability, safety, and acceptability of technology alongside producing usable technologies. The recommendation is critical as it is a way of opening the eyes of the DHS in their prompt to make things better in terms of homeland safety and security. The authors make their conclusion at the end of the study to show the opinion that they have about the matter and why the study was vital.

However, the article is short and not long enough to provide more information regarding the matter at hand. The article could have been a little bit longer to include more information like about the acquisition process of the DHS, among other vital things of discussion. Also, the article could have made use of questions that would act as a guide in writing the work and also help the reader to know what they expected from the work. Nevertheless, the author makes sure to include various sources of information to support his findings and to give his work more credibility.

Conclusion

            Overall, the article is written with an overall message regarding how the DHS can improve its work through the integration of the human workforce.  The article review has critically evaluated the article “A Vision for Human Systems Integration in the U. S. Department of Homeland Security.” The review has established that the article is credible and true and that it is free from bias.

References

Alexander, D. (2012). Cyber threats in the 21st Century. Security 49(9), 70-76. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1223497697/

Novak, B., Kijora, C., Malone, T., Lockett-Reynolds, J., & Wilson, D. (2010). US department of homeland security human systems integration applied to US coast guard surface asset acquisitions. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Human Performance at Sea HPAS 2010, Glasgow, Scotland, UK.

Wilson, D. P., Malone, T. B., Lockett-Reynolds, J., & Wilson, E. L. (2009, October). A vision for human systems integration in the US Department of Homeland Security. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (Vol. 53, No. 24, pp. 1839-1843). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.