Threats In Context

Threats in Context: Identify, Analyze, Anticipate begins with the premise that a risk assessment is relevant primarily—and hinges upon—the correct evaluation of the threat. According to the author, all the other stages of the risk evaluation are, in fact, dependent on getting the understanding and measurement of the threat right. Despite this truism, many risk assessment methods (i.e., the process of determining the threat) tend to rush through a vague typology, offer minimal classifications, utilize an often-outdated list of potential malevolent actions—all of which are based on precedent occurrences. There should be a way to improve on this: a way to provide security practitioners and analysts better tools to deal with the task of analyzing threats and risk and to prepare for such contingencies appropriately. The book begins with a retrospective on the threats from the 1960s through to the present. The list is long and includes hijackings and airport attacks, piracy, drug smuggling, attacks on trains, pipelines, city-wide multi-site attacks, road attacks, workplace shootings, lone wolf attacks, drone attacks, bombings, IEDs, sniper attacks, random stabbings, and more. Terrorism, workplace violence, and active shooter scenarios all present asymmetric problems and unique challenges that require new ways of thinking, operationally, of risk to properly prevent, mitigate, and respond to such threats. The author demonstrates how to develop an appropriate methodology to define both current and emerging threats, providing a five-step process to self-evaluate—to determine an organization’s, a location’s, or a facility’s threats and to plan risk mitigation strategies to accurately identify, minimize, and neutralize such threats. Coverage progressively builds from correctly identifying the root threats—both global and local—to a subsequent understanding of the corollary relationship between threat, vulnerability, and risk, with the threat serving as the fundamental cornerstone of the risk evaluation. As such, Threats in Context will serve as a pivotal resource to security professionals from all backgrounds serving in a variety of fields and industries.

Revised edition of International handbook of threat assessment, [2014]

Emerging Cyber Threats and Cognitive Vulnerabilities identifies the critical role human behavior plays in cybersecurity and provides insights into how human decision-making can help address rising volumes of cyberthreats. The book examines the role of psychology in cybersecurity by addressing each actor involved in the process: hackers, targets, cybersecurity practitioners and the wider social context in which these groups operate. It applies psychological factors such as motivations, group processes and decision-making heuristics that may lead individuals to underestimate risk. The goal of this understanding is to more quickly identify threat and create early education and prevention strategies. This book covers a variety of topics and addresses different challenges in response to changes in the ways in to study various areas of decision-making, behavior, artificial intelligence, and human interaction in relation to cybersecurity. Explains psychological factors inherent in machine learning and artificial intelligence Discusses the social psychology of online radicalism and terrorist recruitment Examines the motivation and decision-making of hackers and "hacktivists" Investigates the use of personality psychology to extract secure information from individuals

"This compendium of research on insider threats is essential reading for all personnel with accountabilities for security; it shows graphically the extent and persistence of the threat that all organizations face and against which they must take preventive measures." — Roger Howsley, Executive Director, World Institute for Nuclear Security High-security organizations around the world face devastating threats from insiders—trusted employees with access to sensitive information, facilities, and materials. From Edward Snowden to the Fort Hood shooter to the theft of nuclear materials, the threat from insiders is on the front page and at the top of the policy agenda. Insider Threats offers detailed case studies of insider disasters across a range of different types of institutions, from biological research laboratories, to nuclear power plants, to the U.S. Army. Matthew Bunn and Scott D. Sagan outline cognitive and organizational biases that lead organizations to downplay the insider threat, and they synthesize "worst practices" from these past mistakes, offering lessons that will be valuable for any organization with high security and a lot to lose. Insider threats pose dangers to anyone who handles information that is secret or proprietary, material that is highly valuable or hazardous, people who must be protected, or facilities that might be sabotaged. This is the first book to offer in-depth case studies across a range of industries and contexts, allowing entities such as nuclear facilities and casinos to learn from each other. It also offers an unprecedented analysis of terrorist thinking about using insiders to get fissile material or sabotage nuclear facilities. Contributors: Matthew Bunn, Harvard University; Andreas Hoelstad Dæhli, Oslo; Kathryn M. Glynn, IBM Global Business Services; Thomas Hegghammer, Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, Oslo; Austin Long, Columbia University; Scott D. Sagan, Stanford University; Ronald Schouten, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Jessica Stern, Harvard University; Amy B. Zegart, Stanford University

Addresses threats to homeland security from terrorism and emergency management from natural disasters Threats to Homeland Security, Second Edition examines the foundations of today's security environment, from broader national security perspectives to specific homeland security interests and concerns. It covers what we protect, how we protect it, and what we protect it from. In addition, the book examines threats from both an international perspective (state vs non-state actors as well as kinds of threat capabilities—from cyber-terrorism to weapons of mass destruction) and from a national perspective (sources of domestic terrorism and future technological challenges, due to globalization and an increasingly interconnected world). This new edition of Threats to Homeland Security updates previous chapters and provides new chapters focusing on new threats to homeland security today, such as the growing nexus between crime and terrorism, domestic and international intelligence collection, critical infrastructure and technology, and homeland security planning and resources—as well as the need to reassess the all-hazards dimension of homeland security from a resource and management perspective. Features new chapters on homeland security intelligence, crime and domestic terrorism, critical infrastructure protection, and resource management Provides a broader context for assessing threats to homeland security from the all-hazards perspective, to include terrorism and natural disasters Examines potential targets at home and abroad Includes a comprehensive overview of U.S. policy, strategy, and technologies for preventing and countering terrorism Includes self-assessment areas, key terms, summary questions, and application exercises. On-line content includes PPT lessons for each chapter and a solutions key for academic adopters Threats to Homeland Security, Second Edition is an excellent introductory text on homeland security for educators, as well as a good source of training for professionals in a number of homeland security-related disciplines.

Based on research from the threat-assessment community, this important resource addresses the challenge of assessing concerning online communication, written narratives, and artistic works at schools, colleges, and universities. Drawing from the collective fields of law enforcement, law, and psychology, the authors expand on evidence-based practices to help student affairs staff and K-12 educators best assess the validity of these communications and develop intervention and management plans. Concepts are supported through numerous examples of social media posts, written fiction work, emails and examples from past attacks, as well as averted plans. Appropriate for the classroom, Behavioral Intervention Teams, frontline teaching staff and administrators, this new resource will ensure an evidence-based approach to early assessment and intervention.

When we think "terrorism," our minds conjure up dramatic and horrifying images of hijackings, suicide bombings, assassinations and various other forms of brutal carnage. Placing terrorist acts within a historical context, this book helps us understand the causes, dynamics and outcomes of terrorism.Providing a concise history of terrorism since the French Revolution, the author considers the relationship between terrorism and warfare, crime, technology globalization and the state. He investigates the meaning of the word "terrorism" and shows how the definition and practice have both evolved over time. Throughout, he considers what motivates terrorists and what they hope to accomplish.Written by a pioneer in the field, Terrorism: The Present Threat in Context offers a practical assessment of domestic and international threats to security. This book will help anyone concerned about terrorism learn to evaluate the risks in a rational way, devoid of the hysteria that so often dominates the subject.

This book explores citizens' perceptions and experiences of security threats in contemporary Britain, based on twenty focus groups and a large sample survey conducted between April and September 2012. The data is used to investigate the extent to which a diverse public shares government framings of the most pressing security threats, to assess the origins of perceptions of security threats, to investigate what makes some people feel more threatened than others, to examine the effects of threats on other areas of politics and to evaluate the effectiveness of government messages about security threats. We demonstrate widespread heterogeneity in perceptions of issues as security threats and in their origins, with implications for the extent to which shared understandings of threats are an attainable goal. While this study focuses on the British case, it seeks to make broader theoretical and methodological contributions to Political Science, International Relations, Political Psychology, and Security Studies.

In The Representation of External Threats, Eberhard Crailsheim and María Dolores Elizalde present a collection of articles that trace the phenomenon of external threats over three continents and four oceans, offering new perspectives on their development, social construction, and representation.

There is a visible change in the outlook towards security all over the world-probably because of the increasing complexity of global problems and their repercussions for millions of people all over the world. Insecurity is not just all pervasive but is reiterating its alarming overtones more forcefully than during the cold war era. There are now threats very different from a military attack on a nation's territory. The concept of National Security hence needs to be redefined. The gamut of its perceptions has undergone a paradigm shift. The context against which the policy makers seek to establish national security is undergoing tumultuous changes. While not downplaying the relevance of strategic means of maintaining national security, this book explores the emerging non-strategic threats to national security, with the obvious grave consequences on human security. This book attempts to address several questions: Can the concepts of National Security and Human Security be reconciled meaningfully? Can their approaches and objectives be inter-twined so that we can live a fuller life? Can the nations and citizenry-both feel equally secure at the same time?