Cybersecurity in the Age of Smart Societies

Cybersecurity and information security risks are generally addressed following the guidelines of current standards and best practices, which traditionally point to ISO 31000 risk management. This key exercise to ensure the “known” risks is carried out in a reactive perspective, since not only the risks are known and treated, but also the organization is prepared when one of them materializes. Thus, it is necessary to advance in cyber risk management from the adversary's perspective. That is, to understand both the intentions and their capabilities to get out of the comfort zone of standards, and mobilize the organization to another framework that seeks to detect, deter, delay, confuse and anticipate the adversary. Therefore, this article develops two perspectives of security and cybersecurity risk management (from the victim and the adversary), in order to tune efforts around the treatment of known risks and the development of capabilities to maintain a vigilant posture towards latent and emerging risks, allowing the organization navegate throughout the uncertainties and instability of the current international context.

This research presents the collection of data from different cybersecurity methodologies used for securing IoT environments, of which a few were chosen for the validation of parameters. The methodology known as ENISA was used to filter, select and adjust to the needs of the architecture carried out in this project and was compared with the Hardening methodology. To review and validate the parameters of each one, a test bed environment was designed with several sensors and integrated systems (NodeMCU ESP8266 and Raspberry Pi). In addition, tests were carried out in three different scenarios and the validation of its security has been done using the Kali Linux distribution with tools like Nmap, Hydra, Wireshark, etc. The results were presented at the end in comparative tables attached to this document, which enabled the research to validate which methodology provides better resilience along with its applications to other architectures depending on the needs of the users.

The mining sector is worth trillions globally and the cornerstone of many developing nations wealth. National and corporate interests sit at the heart of negotiating fair value when pursuing profit while at the same time attempting to balance equality and sustainability of the sector. While the mining sector is of significant value to the economy, there are challenges in managing land administration. This research aims to provide a strategic template for the Zimbabwean government to apply the technological benefits of digital transformation to bring transparency and accountability for stakeholders, including the people and partners of Zimbabwe. The government would respond to implement technological advances such as Blockchain, Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The fundamental importance of land and its management lies at the core of this study as strategic research for Zimbabwe. Therefore, this research investigates how digital transformation can support mining land title management to create transparency and accountability. From a myriad of available options, this research proposes a technological solution based on Blockchain’s Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) to address the lack of Transparency and Accountability in mining land title management.

Innovation and other decision-making processes in businesses are very critical to their growth and survival in an environment of ever-increasing competition and technological advancement. Large corporations have the resources to invest in an expensive Big Data and Analytics infrastructure or platform, however, using business intelligence technologies is a challenging effort for start-ups owing to hefty license costs, the need to create an integrated data warehouse, and a lack of Business Intelligence capabilities. This paper offers an in-depth look at how businesses can take advantage of big data when making business decisions or embarking on any form of innovation be it process, product, service or strategy. A comprehensive evaluation of literature discerns that an intricate rationalisation of key implications, use and benefits are widely evaluated. In addition, for the instigation of comprehensive unstructured data analysis, the paper shows how, instead of having to invest in a sophisticated and expensive infrastructure, Microsoft Power BI allows start-ups to reap the advantages of large-scale big data tools and allows new businesses to obtain access to data analytics to see a direct effect on their bottom line by detecting trends and patterns, as well as new possibilities, success rates, and user preferences.

The high turnover of Security Operations Centre analysts, (SOC analysts), is a current issue being discussed globally, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent global widespread of cybersecurity breaches. The gaps in security operations, due to inconsistency in the availability of cyber security workforce exposes the organisation to the possibility of costly security breaches. Although there are diverse views on the factors responsible for the high turnover of SOC analysts, whatever the reasons, high turnover of SOC analysts, in many ways, constitute a serious risk to organisations. Employers have used financial incentives to address this problem, however, the problem still persists. This research therefore explores a multidisciplinary approach to finding comprehensive and sustainable solutions to this problem, through seeking the views of the stakeholders; the SOC analysts and cybersecurity leaders, including the views of experts from the fields of Human Resources (HR) and psychology. This research was conducted as a case study of the two types of Security Operations Centres (SOCs): in-house and Managed Security Service Providers (MSSP), between the months of March and May 2022. Semi-structured interview was used as the qualitative method of gathering the necessary data. The key findings from this research suggest that most SOC analysts consider other factors than money in deciding whether to leave or stay in an organisation. These factors are mainly informed by the characteristic needs and motivations of the young generation of SOC analysts; hence, cybersecurity leaders should be tactical in finding ways to engage and retain their critical workforce.

Protection of data has become a matter of great concern as cyber-crime has now emerged as a major threat amid the rapid spread of the internet and information and communication technology across the globe. Despite being the most technologically advanced country, the United States is not out of the purview of the danger of cyber-crime. In such a situation, a country like Bangladesh which is still in the group of less developed countries is one of the most vulnerable countries in terms of cyber security. The Bangladesh government has gone through a huge digital transformation over the years and has been trying to connect the dots between the institutions digitally with the slogan of “Digital Bangladesh”. Apart from that, national and multinational companies, operating in the country, are also offering online services to be part of the government’s journey to the digital world. The distance between a consumer and a shop or a bank is now a click away, thanks to the wide access to the internet and the digital presence of the entities. Taking the advantage of easy excess and widespread use of the internet, opportunists and criminals have chosen the digital path to materialize their evil wishes. They are committing various crimes, including stealing money, and personal data, spreading rumors and cyber-attacks and other criminal activities. Amid the fragile security system, there is also a huge risk of targeted cyber-attacks by the hackers of any opponent country or frustrated group. Against this backdrop, it is evident that the state of cyber security in the country is very fragile and the existing laws and the measures of the state are very insignificant to tackle the growing threat. This study pinpoints the escalating cyber security concerns in the context of Bangladesh from a global perspective.

With the increasing number of people more people utilising social media platforms, the production of aggressive language online such as attacks, abuse, and denigration increase. However, the constantly changing and different forms of online language provide difficulties in detecting violent language. Not only is this a difficult undertaking, but it is also an area for research and growth, considering the harm caused by cyber violence to children, women, and victims of racial prejudice, as well as the severity of cyberbullying's consequences. This paper identifies some violent terms and proposes a model for detecting racism and sexism on social media (twitter) based on TextCNN and Word2Vec sentiment analysis achieving 96.9% and 98.4% accuracy.

The emergence of the Internet of Things devices in everyday life has increased its sales dramatically over recent years, specifically of smart devices, such as smartwatches, fitness trackers and smart phones. The number of vulnerabilities exploited has also risen in tandem with the increased sales. The attack vectors have greatly increased due to the connectivity and mass functionality of these devices. The lack of security in smartwatches, marketed towards children, poses a prominent threat for their safety and security. Results reported in this paper revealed significant security vulnerabilities in several popular kids’ smartwatches when exploited by SMS command injection, Bluetooth tracking and Wi-Fi man in the middle attack. The devices investigated were kids’ smartwatches, a fitness tracker and a smart phone with varying functions, connections and security features. Findings of the paper raise concerns as vulnerabilities of kids’ IoT smart devices can lead to criminal cases, such as child grooming and child abduction.

The IoT (Internet of Things) represents a technological evolution in the way that human beings can now control, monitor, and study the world by enabling the connection of different devices around the globe, facilitating data delivery and services. However, the advantages of this increased connectivity does not come without a price. Various security issues have been discovered that can affect the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of the data received from IoT devices. IoT devices are, in general, power, storage, and processing constrained devices due to cost, size, and power restrictions. This leads to the adoption of light weight communication protocols specifically designed for communication among devices in which advanced, computationally intensive methods of security cannot always be applied. One such a communication protocol is MQTT (Message Queueing Telemetry Transport). This paper intended to answer the question of the utility of penetration testing when designing and evaluating an MQTT network. Various attacks were catalogued, designed, and implemented in an application called IoTPenn. These attacks were carried out on a simulated MQTT network, after which the results were analyzed. It was found that it is possible to gain access to sensitive and privileged information, to spoof legitimate MQTT clients, and perform DoS (Denial of Service) attacks against the broker, using the default MQTT configuration.

As the wave of data breaches continues to crash down on organisations, we will analyse the largest publicly available database of data breaches in the state of California using the public data breach database functioning under the state notification law of data breach. The dataset contains records since January 2012. These records were analysed in order to classify and identify California data breaches by multiple company types, attack vectors and stolen personal information. The main findings were that Software vulnerability is the most common attack vector due to third-party software, the financial industry is the most targeted industry while both large and small organisations are equally targeted by attackers. The analysis also found that credit/debit card information and social security numbers represent the most stolen personal information.

Cyber-attacks have become increasingly common in recent years all over the world. In particular, the ongoing unfortunate events between Russia and Ukraine have been aided using technology. The Russians have used various types of attacks for various reasons, such as reconnaissance to gather information about Ukraine's critical systems. It is critical to be able to profile these types of attacks for identification and other strategies to prevent such attacks in the future. Data mining techniques can be used to profile hackers by nation states, law enforcement agencies, and organizations alike. Profiling hackers can assist in better preparing for and responding to cyber-attacks. The goal of this study is to use data mining techniques to profile Russian hackers. Another important aspect of this study is the dataset that will be used, OSINT. The open-source dataset was chosen because it is free, suitable for research, and widely available. Different classification algorithms will be used to train the proposed predictors, and the most reliable and accurate model will be chosen. This study emphasizes the importance of better understanding well known Russian hacker groups, which could lead to better preparation and handling of cyber incidents involving such threat actors. Nation-state governments, researchers, and law enforcement agencies can use the developed model in conjunction with other techniques to quickly identify attacks from Russia APT groups, recommend controls, and develop a detailed strategy for countermeasures against such attacks, which will improve data security and privacy.

Wireless Medical Networks (WMNs) have always been a vital component for the treatment and management of chronic diseases. However, the data generated by these networks keeps growing and has become a potential target for criminals seeking to capitalise on its sensitivity and value. Wireless networks also happen to be more vulnerable to attacks compared to wired networks. In the event of such attacks, it becomes really difficult to conduct a digital Forensics investigation. This paper investigates and suggests a proactive approach of digital forensics readiness within wireless medical networks by suggesting specialised monitoring and logging mechanisms. The research first identifies threats to wireless medical networks. It then undertakes a trajectory of a systematic review of previously proposed digital forensics frameworks and identifies challenges. Finally, it proposes a conceptual framework for Digital Forensics Readiness (DFR) for wireless medical networks. The paper, therefore, makes a novel contribution to the field of digital forensics. It suggests a more streamlined, robust, and decentralised framework that is partially underpinned by blockchain technology at the evidence management layer. The framework contributes to the enforcement of evidential data integrity whilst also securing wireless medical networks.

Decentralised autonomous organisations, entities built on the blockchain based with no central leadership, are changing the landscape of organisations and governance. Operations governed by smart contracts where bylaws are embedded into code and the decentralised nature of their governance are offering a unique structure to organisations looking for transparency and community engagement. This paper will give an overview of blockchain technologies and DAOs, how computer programming is incorporated into DAOs through the use of smart contracts and how this can be used for governance, in addition to how this differs to centralised organisations. Various DAO frameworks will be explored, compared and analysed such as MolochDAO, MakerDAO and the LAO. From here, the current challenges of DAOs will be explored and recommendations will be proposed followed for DAO frameworks. Finally, having considered the above, the future of DAOs will be discussed, including recommendations, improvements and developments.

The rapid development in internet services led to a significant increase in cyberattacks. The need to secure systems and operations has become apparent as cybersecurity has become a national concern. Cybersecurity involves techniques that protect and control systems, networks, hardware, software, and electronic data from unauthorised access. Developing an effective and innovative defensive mechanism is an urgent requirement as traditional cybersecurity solutions are becoming inadequate in safeguarding information against cyber threats. There is a need for cybersecurity methods that are capable of making real-time decisions and respond to cyberattacks. To support this, researchers are focusing on approaches like Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve cyber defence. This study provides an overview of existing research on cybersecurity using AI technologies. AI technologies made a remarkable contribution in combating cybercrimes with significant improvement in anomaly intrusion detection.

The world is progressing further into the digital era, and as a result, more and more people are getting their initial information from online news portals and social media platforms. The dependence on sources of information that are becoming murkier raises the likelihood of being deceived and the possibility of misguided agendas. When it comes to verifying articles, traditional news outlets adhere to stringent norms of practice. In contrast, people nowadays are able to publish news items on social media and unverified sites without having to provide evidence that they are true. Because there are now no indicators on the Internet that can be used to gauge the veracity of such news pieces, an innovative strategy that makes use of technology is required in order to evaluate the realness quotient of unconfirmed news items. This paper proposes a dynamic model with a secure voting mechanism that allows news reviewers to submit news input. A probabilistic mathematical model is utilised to estimate the news item’s veracity based on the feedback obtained from the news reviewers. In order to guarantee that the information being spread is accurate, the concept, which is based on blockchain technology, will be presented.

Day by day the global reliance on internet connectivity grows and so does various dangers or consequences of cybersecurity threats. China has top 1 position currently for the number of hacker groups in the world. Security experts require even more data and tools to keep up with these cyber threats from Chinese Cyber-Criminals. They need to acquire top strategies to fight back in the warfare involving cybercriminals and defences. Cybersecurity monitoring is a technique which tries to fix cyber security strategic planning by studying cybersecurity risks. Since this rate of cyber threats has caused an expansion which substantially, machine learning and data-mining techniques have become an essential part in recognizing security risks. According to this research study, classification methods will be implemented to correctly categorise as well as forecast future cyber attack vectors. The research has aimed to cyber profile and improve the current strategies of cyber attack prevention from Chinese attack groups. This will be done by evaluating previous studies on implementing data-mining techniques in the field of cyber-security. This research uses the Classification Data-Mining framework on the dataset which has been gathered from an open-source data blog Hackmageddon. The dataset has been set to focus on the attacks that took place from 2016 to 2022. 5 of the major classification techniques has been used in order to find the best suitable method to predict and classify future cyber-crime instances from China. Out of the 5, the best one was found to be Naïve-Bayes algorithm.

Cyber security remains a relevant topic for organisations. While companies invest in expensive security tools security awareness training often is neglected, even though human error still accounts for a large part of cyber incidents (Gartner, 2022). At the same time there is currently an important generational shift, as Generation Z (Gen Z) is starting to enter the workforce and is said to be soon overtaking millennials. However, Gen Z is said to experience a lot more security related issues compared to older generations. This paper aims to understand and analyse security behaviour for Gen Z by using the theory of planned behaviour to understand what influences the security behaviour of this generation. The theory of planned behaviour has been often utilised in previous research to understand how security behaviour is formed and how it can be influenced, however, it has not yet been researched in the context of Gen Z. The results conclude that Gen Z has a rather indifferent attitude towards security and generally values convenience much more than security. This can be led back to the lack of security awareness education as opposed to older generations that often experienced a training in the work environment. Gen Z is highly influenced by their environment; therefore, a company should strive to create a security culture. Lastly, Gen Z experiences a low perceived behavioural control, as they feel a lack of control regarding to the internet and lack education how to behave more secure. This gap could be closed by providing a suitable security awareness training.

Remote working has become an important part of keeping operations up and running and managing the security risks associated with it is essential for organizational development. This study seeks to find out how remote employees comply with their organizations’ cybersecurity regulations and policies. The objectives of this research are to investigate strategies organizations use to keep positive cyber security compliance, understand the challenges remote workers face, and how they are reducing their cyber risk exposure through compliance. Furthermore, it also aims at gathering the best compliance practices used for maintaining trust, safeguarding, and reducing insider risk/human error which will help in recommending ways that employees can adopt to improve upon their cybersecurity compliance A mixed-method research approach is used to investigate remote workers’ awareness, commitment, and motivation to cyber security compliance. The findings show that although most organizations have strategies to keep positive cyber security compliance for their remote workers, more than half of the interviewees are ignorant about it or lack the requisite training needed to comply.

The Dark Web is the hidden group of Internet sites that can only be accessed through specific software. The Dark Web enables private computer networks to communicate anonymously without revealing identifying information. Keeping Internet activity anonymous and private can be beneficial for both legal and illegal applications. Although it is used to evade government censorship, it is also deployed for highly illegal activity. The aim of this paper is to provide a critical analysis of the technical, legal, and ethical challenges to policing the Dark Web. The most significant recommendation identified in this paper is the need for stronger national cyber security strategies, increased awareness and use of the UN Cybercrime Repository, and greater support from intergovernmental organisations. This would help to contribute towards addressing many of the technical, legal and ethical challenges concerning the multi-jurisdictional nature of Dark Web investigations and lack of reliable data and resources while ensuring transparency and accountability. The recommendations proposed in this paper are restricted by certain limitations, therefore, further research is recommended into the field of digital policing and the Dark Web.

Technology has become a pivotal point in our society, this dependency is becoming increasingly more critical on a daily basis. This ranges from people to businesses and on a larger scale government organisations who are now increasingly focusing on becoming more cyber resilient. This paper intends to provide an overview as to why a comprehensive knowledge management framework is necessity for SMEs on tackling cyber and cyber-enabled crimes. The paper explores new sources of data to reliably understand the importance as to why such a framework is required. This type of system can pave the way for SME’s to devise their cyber strategy and to be able to respond efficiently to cyber-related incidents. One of the cyber weakness and vulnerabilities for the SME’s are through their interactivity and or engagement with their suppliers and customers. Namely the interactions which take place via their respective internet sites, email communications, ports (using external devices, USB, CD drive, SD cards etc.…) or the router (The use of their WIFI systems). The benefits of this framework model will be primarily to educate SME’s in becoming more cyber resilient and provide them with the knowledge, awareness and techniques to identify weaknesses and vulnerabilities in their computer networks, devices and internet usage.

Fake news and misinformation have become a serious predicament, especially, in recent times as it has become easier to spread and harder to recognize. Not only has it created an environment of distrust around the world and misled people, but also incited violence and resulted in people losing their lives. State of the art fake news detection includes the use of verifying news from a trustable dataset, BERT filtering or using cues from Lexical Structure, Simplicity and Emotion and more. In addition, several frameworks have also been proposed to deal with this issue e.g., SpotFake and FR-detect to name a few. However, these frameworks strongly rely on the users to verify the news, modification of information, categorization of the news, and reliability of the dataset (if a dataset is used). This paper proposes ‘HOAXIMETER’, a framework to detect fake news on the World Wide Web covering the weakness of the aforementioned existing ones. It does so by putting forward an in-depth study and literature review on the existing frameworks by analyzing and evaluating them in the context of how well they work with each step, thereby highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, ‘HOAXIMETER’ is proposed which is meant to be the most effective fake news detection framework free from the issues of the existing one.

Many risks always exist in the power industry, as the supply and demand are affected by many stochastic internal and external factors. The number and magnitude of technological, economic, social and environment changes in this industry are also accelerating. The power industry is faced with many uncertain dimensions, where other forms of energy come into play, such as oil and gas supplies. Cyber-attack is where the most drastic pressure is put on the industry. Local and remote attacks occur often, which require a comprehensive command system to deal with them. Cyber-attacks must be prevented and mitigated ahead of time by Resiliency strategies and be managed as they occur by crisis management procedures. Implications and damages are kept to a minimum for business continuity. In this paper, we review the background and existing literature of power industry to identify the main factors and relationships. We use Iran case (Ministry of energy) as a developing country with many sources of natural energies as well as an extensive network of electric power. A recent case of Staxnet is to illustrate the magnitude of issues and shortcomings in the current system of cyber-attack response. We use future study approach to consider several scenarios of plausible future for power industries. We utilize the standard C2M2-ES for systematic dealing with Cyber risks and uncertainties in electric power industries. Optimization and simulation models are then used to evaluate and compare various strategies to respond to various circumstances.

Blockchain is a decentralised ledger used to secure digital currency, perform deals and transactions. A new transaction is validated when each member of network has access to the latest copy of the encrypted ledger. The features of blockchain are immutability, trackability, trustworthiness and decentralisation. This paper explores the concept, characteristics, and the need for blockchain in cybersecurity management. Blockchain is based on cryptography to ensure trust in transactions. Blockchain technologies made a remarkable contribution in Cybersecurity.

The Internet has a significant impact on both the process and planning behind cyber and physical acts and attempts to mitigate these threats. This paper aims to highlight the ways in which the Internet is used in both of these processes by drawing upon the attractiveness of the Internet to terrorist organisations and how they, therefore, use it to their advantage. Instances where the Internet has been used for threats or acts of terrorism and extremism are elaborated with examples. The paper also aims to explore how the Internet and intelligence can be used in the process of countering these online threats. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most discussed phenomenon in relation to cyber security and countering cyberterrorism due to the increased technological advancements in this field. To this end, the paper briefly draws upon this use of AI in organisations such as the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) and the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and outlines how this should be the focus of many governments in protecting their national security. The discussion of this paper revolves around the potential issues and impacts of the Internet in both the methods of conducting these attacks and in countering them.

Digital twin technology is used to enable businesses to create efficiencies by modelling their physical counterparts. Use cases include modelling a physical device through its lifecycle to perform predictive maintenance, product training, future product development, product performance enhancement, or using the digital twin to control its physical counterpart to perform tasks on IoT or other connected devices. A digital twin leads to less downtime on a physical device as all the modelling or testing is conducted in a virtual environment meaning the physical device can continue to perform the tasks required of it. The digital twin and its physical counterpart are linked and synchronised through heterogeneous network connections. This poses a cyber security question of whether there is a risk of using a digital twin within a smart city. This paper aims to critically examine the confidentiality requirements for a digital twin in a smart city by performing a critical analysis of current literature.

Internet of Everything (IoE) and Internet of Things (IoT) paradigms emerged in the recent years as key elements of the infrastructures in business, industry and everyday life. This has, created new challenges, including those related to privacy and security, in the pervasive computing area. The Internet of Things is recognized for allowing the connection of virtual and physical worlds by giving processing power to “things”. The Internet of Everything goes beyond that by connecting people, data, and processes to the Internet of Things, thereby making a connected world. For any technology to be successful and achieve widespread use, it needs to gain the trust of users by providing adequate privacy and security assurance. Despite the growing interest of the research community in IoT and IoE, and the emergence of vibrant literature addressing its architecture and its elements, the security and privacy of these systems and the consequential ways in which the varying capabilities of constituent devices might impact it, are still not fully understood. In this paper, a modern hospital ecosystem is used as a case model for the IoE security risk analysis. This model is used for understanding the nature of cyber-attacks against the healthcare industry with a focus of first identifying the threat actors that attack the health industry, why they do so, and how they do so. To answer these questions, an analysis was carried out on medical-related systems and devices used in the healthcare industry using Shodan IoT search engine. A DREAD threat model exercise is then used to carry out a qualitative risk analysis on healthcare networks to understand where, among various threats, the greatest risk lies. This analysis also included a focus on supply-chain attacks and the way this translates to the healthcare network. Finally, results from the DREAD threat model are used to recommend technical and non-technical measures that would help in providing security and assuring privacy within healthcare industry utilizing IoE technology.

This paper will cover the impact of quantum computing and how it will affect the entire landscape, from security to ecommerce and even technologies such as the blockchain. First, it introduces the basics of encryption and compares it to classical computing and how it will differ from the quantum era of computing. The older style of encryption, when used in classical computing, will be defenseless in the age of quantum computing. We go over different types of protections and other theories to protect such attacks if and when they occur from a quantum computer. Our research paper also covers decryption comparing how classical computing decryption can be done manually or even automatically. Still, with the introduction of quantum computing, it would have to utilize quantum mechanical principles to perform cryptography. In addition this paper will also go over how big companies such as IBM and their technology strive to be ahead of their competitors in regards to advancement in the quantum space. One of the biggest companies, such as IBM, is investing in the quantum computing field with a power of 64 Qubits, and it is still in progress of advancement in Qubits. Quantum computing will also bring many benefits, such as fixing old security protocols and encryption issues. It will also solve problems such as key encryption or even make older encryptions stronger when running on a quantum system. In addition, cyber security with quantum computing will come with some negatives which will weaken all classical types of security, such as RSA, DSA, and ECDSA. It can keep trying to compute until it cracks through these classical security protocols. Ecommerce in the future will be handled through quantum computing and more advanced security protocols. Blockchain technology emerged with Bitcoin and is used for secure ways to do transactions and communication between two users. The technology relies more on classical cryptography protocols, and emerging quantum computing will create security issues including areas of blockchain data transparency. As the conclusion on quantum computing which requires future work to be done for implementation of effective strategies to push the classical computing technologies to the quantum era.