Society and Cyberthreats: Risks to National Security in a Global Economy

Today, we transact vast amounts of data through smart-devices for work, home life, and everything in between. Data is the ‘new oil’ and cybersecurity has evolved into a primary focus for governments and business.

Some of these data are highly sensitive and should be private and secure. But technology evolves at speed and the gap between enforcement capacity and criminal capabilities invites threats by malicious actors—some of whom are foreign State actors and often very well organized, coordinated, with the objective of achieving strategic outcomes.

Faced with multitudes of threats (malwares, phishing, spam, ransomware, etc.), we rely on vendors of hardware and software for peace of mind. The better established vendors rely on armies of engineers and security experts, to design data environments as secure as possible while preserving an open and user friendly environment for customers. Many mid-sized or smaller businesses and municipalities lack funds or experience to employ extensive security solutions. Private individuals also make better targets because they lack sophistication when it comes to knowing how data transacts underlying their daily activities. In fact, a recent European Threat Landscape survey (2020) noted the top five threats are all consumer driven (malwares, web-based attacks, phishing, web application attacks, spam).

To better understand this landscape of cyberthreats, we bring together this panel discussion on Society and Cyberthreats to examine our country’s cyber strategies facing foreign State and criminal actors. We hope to challenge some fundamental notions of Cyberthreats to better understand its expanding presence in our daily lives beyond our mere distant awareness about coercion, militarized crisis, and war. In more pressing analogy, there is already a “cyber competition” being waged in the digital space and the doomsday scenario is no longer about hiding in bunkers waiting for the atomic bomb, but confronting cyberthreats at our door steps.

We are joined by Dr. Richard Harknett and Ms. Kathy Guider to start by asking some simple questions:

• Is cybersecurity more of a technology or people problem?
• How have the nature of cybersecurity threats changed in the recent decade(s)?
• How has the training/education curriculum evolved in response to the changing global cybersecurity threats?

Guest Panelists:

Kathy Guider, Vice President Veracity IIR, retired FBI Special Agent

Richard Harknett, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Professor & Director, School of Public and International Affairs (SPIC)Co-Director, Ohio Cyber Range Institute(OCRI) Chair, Center for Cyber Strategy and Policy (CCSP)

This virtual event is free with a suggested donation of $20. We look forward to seeing you soon!