Colloquia Series
Cyberattacks: The Weapon of Choice of Criminals, Terrorists, and Spies
Apr 4
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
5:15–5:15 PM
Presented by Dr. William Ebersole.
Our lives have become increasingly connected to the Internet due to the rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT). Increased reliance on the Internet exposes us to not just individuals seeking our personally identifiable information, but it also exposes us to cyber spies and cyber terrorists. As digital intrusions become a part of our everyday reality, we must ask ourselves: When do these intrusions become an act of war as opposed to a discrete criminal act?
Although digital warfare has been around for some time, the implementation of cyber physical systems (CPS) now exposes the public to physical harm. An example of a CPS compromise would be the hacking of an implanted pacemaker with the intent of harming the patient.
Join Dr. William Ebersole as he talks about threats that have or could touch us close to home, including software and business attacks, such as the well-known Target breach, and other vulnerabilities such as intended or potential attacks on infrastructure, including a local dam or the natural gas pipeline structure, and cyberespionage.
Bibliography
- Chertoff, M. & Simon, T. (2015). The impact of the dark web on Internet governance and cybersecurity. Global Commission on Internet Governance Paper Series: No 6 – February 2015. Retrieved from Centre For International Governance Innovation website: http://ourinternet.org.
- Clark, R. (2010). Cyber War. New York, New York: Harper-Collins.
- D Gonzales (2014, December 17). Preventing cyber attacks: Sharing information about Tor. [Web log post]. Retrieved from: http://www.rand.org/blog/2014/12/
- preventing-cyber-attacks-sharing-information-about.html.
- Easttom, C. & Taylor, J. (2011). Computer Crime, investigation, and the law. Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage.
- Gertz, B. (2016, May). Attacks are coming: Government and private networks hit by sophisticated cyber espionage. Free Beacon. Retrieved from http://freebeacon.com/issues/
- Poulin, C. (2014, January). What retailers need to learn from the Target breach to protect against similar attacks. Security Intelligence. Retrieved from http://securityintelligence.com/
- Singer, P. & Friedman, A. (2014). Cybersecurity and cyberwar: What everyone needs to know. New York, New York: Oxford University Press.