Tag: Terrorism | SpinSafe

IAEA Training Centre for Nuclear Security Opens Doors to Build Expertise in Countering Nuclear Terrorism

October 6, 2023/in Computer Security

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) opened today a unique nuclear security training centre, the first international facility of its type, to support the growing efforts to tackle global nuclear terrorism.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi officially opened the IAEA Nuclear Security Training and Demonstration Centre during a ceremony at the Agency’s Seibersdorf laboratories in Austria, attended by representatives from 45 countries and territories.

The centre will provide more than 2000 square meters of specialized technical infrastructure and equipment for course participants to learn about the physical protection of nuclear and other radioactive material, as well as detection and response to criminal acts involving nuclear material and facilities.

“Nuclear security is one of the most important areas of our work to make sure that nuclear material never falls into the wrong hands,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. “The international nuclear security centre of excellence – opened today – is where experts on nuclear security and the physical protection of nuclear material from all over the world will be trained to hone their skills.”

Requests to the Agency for training in nuclear security have increased in recent years as more countries embark on nuclear power programmes and after the 2016 entry into force of the Amendment of the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) – the only legally binding international instrument in the area of physical protection of nuclear material.

Over two floors, the new centre contains simulated environments, virtual reality tools and advanced software. It will provide hands on practice on nuclear security systems for the physical protection of nuclear facilities, information and computer security, nuclear forensics, major public events and other nuclear security areas of work.

“We are giving countries the tools to do nuclear better, safer and in a secure way”, added Director General Grossi.

The centre will welcome the first trainees next week for a course on security management of radioactive material, one of the 23 training courses and workshops to be offered.

“By…

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DHS Warns of Heightened Terrorism Risk over the Summer – National Review

June 7, 2022/in Internet Security

DHS Warns of Heightened Terrorism Risk over the Summer National Review

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A Beginner’s Guide to Cyber War, Cyber Terrorism and Cyber Espionage

January 19, 2022/in Internet Security

Photo by Rafael Rex Felisilda on Unsplash

Tune in to just about any cable talk show or Sunday morning news program and you are likely to hear the terms “cyber war,” “cyber terrorism,” and “cyber espionage” bandied about in tones of grave solemnity, depicting some obscure but imminent danger that threatens our nation, our corporate enterprises, or even our own personal liberties. Stroll through the halls of a vendor expo at a security conference, and you will hear the same terms in the same tones, only here they are used to frighten you into believing your information is unsafe without the numerous products or services available for purchase.

The industry lacks a rubric of clear and standardized definitions of what constitutes cyber war, cyber terrorism, cyber espionage and cyber vandalism. Because of this, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for those of us in the profession to cut through the noise and truly understand risk. For example, on one hand, we have politicians and pundits declaring that the US is at cyber war with North Korea, and on the other hand President Obama declared the unprecedented Sony hack was vandalism. Who’s right?

The issue is exacerbated by the fact that such terms are often used interchangeably and without much regard to their real-world equivalents.

The objective of this article is to find and provide a common language to help security managers wade through the politicking and marketing hype and get to what really matters.

The state of the world always has been and always will be one of constant conflict, and technological progress has extended this contention from the physical realm into the network of interconnected telecommunications equipment known as cyberspace. If one thinks of private-sector firms, government institutions, the military, criminals, terrorists, vandals, and spies as actors, cyberspace is their theater of operations. Each of these actors may have varying goals, but they are all interwoven, operating within the same medium. What separates these actors and accounts for the different definitions in the “cyber” terms are their ideologies, objectives, and methods.

The best way to forge an understanding of the…

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IT workers believe ransomware is as serious as terrorism

January 3, 2022/in Internet Security

Businesses and governments around the world continue to be plagued by ransomware and the problem has gotten so bad that some now believe that ransomware threats are equivalent to terrorism.

To learn more about how InfoSec leadership is responding to the growing risk of ransomware attacks, the cybersecurity firm Venafi surveyed 1,506 IT security officers across the US, UK, Germany, France, Benelux and Australia.

The survey found that ransomware attacks increased by 93 percent in the first half of last year alone when compared to the same time period in 2020. To make matters worse, data from Cybersecurity Ventures revealed that by the end of last year, an organization was estimated to be hit with a ransomware attack every 11 seconds.

In June of last year, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said that the agency would begin treating ransomware attacks at the same level it previously reserved only for terrorism. FBI Director Christopher Wray echoed this sentiment and went so far as to compare ransomware attacks to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Venafi found that overall, 60 percent of InfoSec leaders agree with the DOJ’s decision to prioritize ransomware threats at the same level as terrorism according to a new report from the cybersecurity firm detailing the findings of its survey.

To pay or not to pay

Of those surveyed, 67 percent of respondents from organizations with over 500 employees reported falling victim to a ransomware attack last year. However, that figure rose to 80 percent among respondents at organizations with 3,000 to 4,999 employees.

Venafi’s report also found that eight percent of the companies that did suffer a ransomware attack last year paid a ransom to their attackers. At the same time though, 22 percent of respondents said that they believe it is morally wrong to pay a ransom even if an attack seriously compromises critical business data or systems.

One of the reasons that some organizations opt to pay their attackers is due to the fact that ransom payments don’t have to be publicly disclosed even under this year’s new National Defense Authorization Act. If this were to change though, 57 percent of respondents said that they would reverse their decision to pay to…

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