Art of Cyberdribble is a blog written by adult learners at the Regis University College for Professional Studies (CPS). The purpose of the blog is to examine the intersection of communication and cyberspace.
In the past decade we have seen social
networking's popularity sky rocket like Eli Manning's number of
interceptions this season - sorry, I'm a Cowboys fan. When I was
still in school, I remember MySpace being the big thing. Facebook,
which I believe began as a college-only networking media, decided to
open up to everybody and really took off. It seems the latest big
thing has become Twitter, which is unlike both MySpace and Facebook.
With the increased popularity in
social networking there have been numerous studies and discussions
regarding social networking and its effects it has on individuals and
a society as a whole, both positive and negative. As Dr. Michael
Bengtson, professor and chief of child adolescent psychiatry at the
University of South Florida's Morsani College of Medicine said,
“Addiction doesn't have to involve a substance or a drug. It can
be a behavioral addiction, like gambling. That's where social media
seems to fit in” (Maher).
One might simply ask, “What is wrong
with that?” While social networking addiction may not be the most
destructive addiction out there (drugs, alcohol, gambling, etc...),
it certainly can have plenty of negative effects on your everyday
life that may turn into long term issues. I personally am affected
by social networking negatively but not because I am addicted,
rather, my girlfriend. She is the one out to eat typing furiously,
the one that missed that part of the movie because was she browsing
Pinterest. I have been losing interest in trying to do things
together because I know while she may physically be there, mentally
she is in her own social media world. It fascinates me how oblivious
she is of her addiction as her answer is always “I was just
checking this real quick.”
Enough
of my personal struggles with indirect social networking addiction.
There are numerous other problems that may stem from being addicted
to the cyber community. For
starters, you simply may lose touch with reality. There are plenty
of wonderful people in the world that you can meet face-to-face with,
going out for a drink, and just have a discussion. I guess a
conversation at 140 characters per message is more rewarding though.
What about its effect on
your professional/educational life as well? Unless you have a
relatively easy job, and kudos to you if you do, chances are your
social networking addiction is taking up time that someone else is
paying you for. When you hear it put that way it sounds pretty
inconsiderate, does it not?
With
the few negative effects I have already mentioned in addition to many
I have not, let us not forget about all the good social networking
can do for us. Take note I simply stated the good that social
networking can do for us, not social networking addiction. I see no
positive effect, short term or long term, that being addicted to
social networking can produce. Perhaps with moderation though,
social networking can be a wonderful tool for society. I,
again, will give you a short personal story that I feel is a perfect
example of social networking being great.
My
girlfriend has a son who has made clear that he
looks up to me. A byproduct of this is his taste in music at this
early age – metal. His favorite band is Amon Amarth, a Swedish
death metal band that he knows I am very fond of. He had a school
assignment
that asked what his favorite song was in which he simply responded
with “Amon Amarth”. My girlfriend and I thought this was so
funny we took a picture of it and sent it to the vocalist of Amon
Amarth, Johan Hegg, via Twitter. Not only did he personally comment
on it but he also retweeted it so everybody that follows him could
see it. This, of course, made him ecstatic, he could not believe
Johan saw his homework, liked it, and retweeted it for the world to
see. Chalk that one up in the win column for social networking.
A
positive effect of social networking that should not be overlooked is
how it can help those who are not very social to
begin with. There are various reasons why some may not be
comfortable with face-to-face communication whether it be self-esteem
issues, medical issues, and so on. Social networking allows these
individuals to communicate with others, as most people want
to do in some way, without
having to worry about those traits and characteristics they feel
makes them outcasts.
No
matter which side of the argument you support, you cannot deny the
fact that there can be both positive and negative effects of social
networking.
What is social networking's future? Who knows. The
individuals behind such social media hits as Facebook, Twitter, and
Pinterest could not have predicted their success. Personally, I am
torn between both excitement and concern. Technology is becoming so
good it actually can be scary at times as we begin to realize what is
becoming possible. How can social networking become more convenient
than literally having it in our hand everywhere we go? We can see
where friends have been, what they have done, even what they are
presently doing. I like my
privacy and although it seems to mostly be a voluntary thing, I just
do not like the idea of others knowing where I am and what I am doing
all the time. So you may see
the occasional Facebook post
or Twitter tweet from
me but no thanks social
media, you will not claim this soul.
References
Maher, Irene. "Social
media can become an addiction, but you can break free." Tampa
Bay Times. N.p., 25 Jul 2013. Web. 14 Oct 2013.
.
Cyber terrorism, defined by
Dorothy E. Denning to a special oversight panel on terrorism, is “the
convergence of terrorism and cyberspace; or unlawful attacks and threats of
attack against computers, networks, and the information stored therein when
done to intimidate or coerce a government or its people in furtherance of
political or social objectives.” (Denning, 2000) Denning goes on to give other examples of
attacks such as “leading to death or bodily injury, explosions, plane crashes,
water contamination, or severe economic loss”. (Denning, 2000) I watched this
movie once where there was a super computer that was terrorizing people and the
computer was able to take down power lines or load someone’s apartment with
fertilizer to frame them. I left watching that movie thinking that it was
stupid because it could never be possible. The funny thing is, it wasn’t too
farfetched. Well, I guess I never
thought how real the situation really is, and how real the threat could be to
the U.S., or even worse, how many lives could be lost. In this post you will
learn about how cyber terrorism works in three separate categories, person,
government, and large corporations. The threat is very real.
How can individuals make their
computer more secure from cyber terrorism?
There are three primary areas in which you should secure your home
computer: be aware your computer security and the data on your computer; obtain
a means to protect against viruses and malware; and providing a disaster
recovery plan by backing up your computer.
A computer with a strong password
and an operating system with up to date patches is usually a good step to
having a secure computer. We use our
computers for tracking our finances, storing and editing photos, and editing, storing
important personal documents, and tracking your neighbors. Ok, well hopefully
not tracking your neighbors, but you get the point. Make sure no matter where
you store your documents and files, make sure they’re in the secure portion of
your computer. Using public drives and
share drives that do not have any security on them can lead to data being
compromised or even worse, corruption/deletion.
Take advantage of your operating system’s security functions and always
make time to get the latest updates for the computer.
Ok, so now you have a super sick computer with the strongest password ever, no worries from now on right? Only two people know this password, you and your dog. And you know he can be trusted, considering he is your best friend. So it’s all good right? Wrong, there are many people who make this mistake all the time, you still need to have the correct software to protect yourself against the evil doers on the internet. You still have the ability to be compromised by a virus or other malware until you do so. Like keeping your computer patched with the latest updates for the operating system you’re using, make sure to take advantage of its internet security software too, like having the firewall up and disable third party cookies for your browser to protect your identity. While some in the box software security is good for some threats, it’s recommended to use security internet suites from companies like Symantec/Norton, Kaspersky, TrendMicro, etc. Again, with any operating system patches, be sure to keep security software patched as well.
In addition to having security
software, having good internet habits is important to maintaining a secure
system. Verify the authenticity of
requests from companies and individuals if they seem suspicious. Never open attachments or links from a person
you do not know, or in my case, open up every email from your grandfather who
forwards almost everything to you. If
you know the person, it’s important to scan those files before acting upon
them. Pay attention to links being sent
to you to ensure you’re not being social engineered to go to a malicious web
site. Just take a moment to see if the
link looks to go to a reputable location.
Some users will send short links for mobile devices. Take the time to either double check with the
sender or ask for the full URL if you want to take the most steps of staying
safe online. Lastly, when downloading
software from the internet, know what it does (and what it’s not supposed to
do). Using security software to scan it
is a given, but make sure to pay attention activity on your computer or if its
performance seems to be slowing down.
Chances are you’ll have a safe program if you got it from a reputable
site.
So now you’re thinking, “Well all
of that isn’t too hard, I bet the government and other businesses do the same
thing.” The answer is yes, but on a much larger and in a more complex manner. The
United States government takes cyber terrorism very seriously as they too have
dedicated a lot of their resources to stopping it from happening. While
individuals try to protect themselves against cyber terrorism attack, what more
does the government, who serves the people, need to do to protect themselves. In addition to being diligent to having
secure computers, protection against virus and malware activity, and having a
solid disaster recovery plan, the government needs to go a step further and be
proactive against cyber terrorists.
Utilizing the FBI and CIA to conduct counterterrorism, counter
intelligence and domestic investigations against these threats is necessary to
look out for the government’s best interests as well as the interests of the
country that they serve.
Believe it or not, Cyber terrorism
is now the FBI’s number one priority. They have even started their own Cyber
Division way back in 2002 as they realized how real the threat is. Could you
image some hacker group that has the capabilities to shut down power to a city,
region, or worse an entire country? A crime like this could have an extremely
tragic consequence that very well could end up in many of fatalities.
In addition to having secure systems is key, it’s also important to have redundant systems for communication considered critical. Once thought to be a cyber terrorist, well known computer hacker Kevin Mitnick says “computer hacking really results in financial losses and hassles. The objectives of terrorist groups are more serious. That is not to say that cyber groups can’t access a telephone switch in Manhattan on a day like 9/11, shut it down, and therefore cause more casualties.”
Although most governments utilize
the ARPANET, and even further, the military using a subsection of that network
called the MILNET, private and corporate networks are also used to communicate
with each other, contractors, and the outside world. With this handoff to corporations, these
private/corporate networks can be seen as a weak link in overall security. How do corporations protect themselves
against cyber terrorism as well?
Moreover, corporations make up a majority of this country’s economic
lifeblood, how do they protect themselves against cyber terrorism to avoid an
economic disaster?
Cyber Terrorism Against Corporations
Corporations utilize the same
technological countermeasures as individuals and the government uses.They make sure their computers are
secure, their networks are protected and their data backed up and safe. More and more employees are accessing their
corporate email and calendars from their devices like smart phones, tablets,
etc. Corporations need to impose
policies to not only protect their own data assets against criminal mischief,
but also in the event that an individuals smart device with access to their
network gets compromised or lost, that device can be remotely wiped to protect
against further unintended intrusion.
Corporations like
telecommunication companies serve the government as well as consumers with
network access. Special security
measures are needed to be put in place to have these networks up to government
security specifications and ensure access is limited and monitored. Like the Government, corporations are
interconnected themselves and could be prone to social engineering type
attacks. This could be just one of many
exploits a cyber terrorist could leverage to gain access to the corporate
network and even tunnel into government and consumer networks with malicious
intent. Corporations like this will
partner with the government and leverage their counterintelligence and
counterterrorism ability to see how they can further protect themselves.
Below is a graph from June 2012 identifying the distribution of targets of Cyber Terrorism courtesy of Hackmageddon.com that are "discovered" attacks and are considered just the tip of the ice burg.
One example from our team of a
corporation and government working together to thwart cyber terrorism was when
his company was approached by the FBI to set up a web page to capture the
attention of would be hackers and cyber terrorists in order to track their
activity. This example of activity is
called creating “honey pots”. At the time,
our group teammate wasn’t sure what the reasoning was about and even after
being asked to take it down, no reasons were provided. But about a week or two later, there were
reports to catching Chinese hackers attacking corporate internets and using
their networks to gain leverage to government networks. Putting one and one together was pretty easy
after the fact, but it goes to show just how well this type of partnership is
necessary to protect the interests of our country, economic system and
ultimately the people in that country.
Like consumers, companies also
need to back up and protect their data.
In addition to having secure back ups on site, its important to encrypt
backups and store them offsite with the ability to recover and decrypt the
backups for use at a future time. Cite
examples of how corporations back up needs are different than consumers and
individuals.
Video courtesy of YouTube:
Clear and Present Danger: Cyber-Crime; Cyber-Espionage; Cyber-Terror; and Cyber-War
Conclusion
Governments, corporations and individuals need to improve their own understanding about the overall security of our homeland’s networks and computers. Attacks can be as large as overtaking governments and shutting down power grids down to manipulating even our own personal devices like home computers and cell phones. It’s obvious that the most effective deterrent to cyber terrorist activities is to make their job a lot more difficult and be diligent against their activities instead of just whistling through the graveyard and having a Pollyanna attitude about it. Neglecting to know how our devices work on the networks and even the networks themselves is setting people up for being an easy mark. As an interconnected society, we must recognize and react to flaws in our own computers as well as network administrators / security teams needing to constantly be aware of the potential of these attacks and patching security holes in our own systems and networks. In addition to knowledge of our infrastructure, we need to be mindful of the intentions of what these attacks are intended for. Being aware of domestic and world events can help in discerning what cyber terrorist’s motivations are. By understanding these motivations along with protecting known security holes in our devices and networks, we can better defend ourselves against cyber terrorism as individuals, corporations and governments.
More Social Media Resources
A great podcast our team found is found at oneplace.com where John Nieder and Ron Rhodes talk about Cyber Terrorism". If you prefer using twitter to learn more about current events regarding cyber terrorism and projects dedicated to cyber terrorism please follow: @CTP_Swansea In addition to CTP_Swansea's twitter account, they have a companion cyber terrorism blog site that has some great videos and current event articles. BakerHostetler and Kroll Advisory Solutions presented a webinar discussing the President's cyber-security executive order and its anticipated impact on US businesses. It covers: threats analysis, key features of the cybersecurity executive order, potential impact on industry security standards and dealing with regulatory aspects of the cybersecurity executive order. Two ebooks we recommend to learn more about Cyber Warfare and Cyber Terrorism include:
William L. Tafoya, Ph.D., “Cyber Terror”,
November 2011, http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/november-2011/cyber-terror
Over the past 20 years, there has
been a new type of communication available to anyone with an internet
connection. This communication has led to the ability to transfer
thoughts, ideas, and conversations around the world at the speed of
light. It has opened up the opportunity to countless opportunities to
talk and share ideas, with just about anyone. However, there are also
downfalls associated with such an easy and quick form of communication.
In some ways, some would argue that communication has broken down. How
could that be true if we have all of this technology available at our finger
tips to use?
Cyber communication is a quick efficient way to communicate with just about
anyone around the world. It allows for anyone at anytime to video chat,
conference call, e-mail, or text anytime day or night. With all of the
options to contact an individual, it can lead to some breakdown in
communication. One such problem is what type of communication would be
best? Everyone these days has multiple e mail addresses, phone numbers,
or other electronic accounts to be contacted at. If those accounts are
not checked on a regular basis this could lead to poor communication.
This is not to say that there are not benefits of cyber communication.
Utilizing computers to communicate has opened up possibilities in many
different areas in our day to day lives. In the work environment people
are now able to work from home, without losing any ability to communicate with
their co-workers. The idea of business travel has also changed with the
advancements in teleconferencing, video chat, and screen sharing. Leah P.
Macfadyen (2004) points out that companies are now saving billions of dollars a
year on travel, since most meetings can be held via video chat.
With all these advancements the need to travel for a meeting is no longer
as necessary. Schools have also been impacted by this revolution in
communication. Now there are complete degrees that can be obtained
without even setting foot inside a class room. This trend is set to
accelerate in the future as technology continues to advance.
So the question becomes how can we better utilize the various cyber tools we
all have at our disposal? As pointed out in TIME Tech Bajarin
(2013) “Maybe it will be the TV or wearable devices that will enable new ways
to communicate. One thing, however, is highly likely: The millennial generation
that embraced new technologies and adopted them into their communication
methods will be the generation that brings us the next major innovation in
communication.” On the way to this innovation would be to create a center
point for all communication. A solution would be to take a program that
would take all of those e mail address, phone numbers, and online chat
communications and put them in to a single point of access. This way the
individual would always know where to check for new communication
threads. This centralized location could also work for text messages,
calendar appointments and events, as well as voice mail.It would also need to be easily accessed via
the cloud on mobile devices, tablets, and the internet. I personally already see this at my work,
where all voice mail, texts, and chats get directly sent to my main work e
mail. That way I don’t miss when someone is trying to contact me.
Leah P. Macfadyen (2004). Negotiating Cultures in Cyberspace:
Participation Patterns and Problematics
Bajarin,Ben (2013) Where We’ll Find the Next Major Communication
Innovation. Retrieved 09/28/13 from
http://techland.time.com/2013/09/03/where-well-find-the-next-major-communication-innovation/
