THREAT REPORTS
Macron's Cybersecurity Pact
Cybersecurity – to most who follow the news or are in any sensitive industry – is acknowledged as a significant issue for private organizations, individuals, and states. There are significant concerns about state actors working with affiliated hacking or cyberespionage organizations to either attack other nations, the critical infrastructure of other states – numerous states in the former Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union have experienced attacks against infrastructure in recent years – or to act on behalf of local companies – sometimes state-owned – and engage in corporate espionage to steal intellectual property (IP) or other research and development materials. On the public side, nations seek to keep confidential material as such and to protect the integrity of public institutions; many democratic societies – notably the United States – are extremely concerned about the integrity of democratic processes as allegations surface against other countries engaging in social media activity to sow dissension; moreover, concerns exist about the integrity of elections themselves as cybersecurity research efforts detail the credible security gaps in election infrastructure.
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THE FBI’s strategy to combat global terrorism
In many respects, the FBI, in its capacity of countering terrorism, is targeting the same groups that it did prior to and immediately after September 11th. There have, however, been new additions to their surveillance and target list such as the Al Qaeda offshoot Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Islamic State (ISIS). That said, while September 11th and subsequent attacks in the United Kingdom and Spain were largely planned by cells in at least some degree of coordination with central organization that advises, trains, and possibly funds the activities of an individual cell. The existence of a central hub for a terrorist organization – while allowing for scaling to occur – leads to the creation of a central point of failure that can put the group’s goals at risk should the central infrastructure be neutralized.
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Global terrorism: The multibillion dollar business
When most people think of terrorism or terrorist groups, often thoughts immediately go to violent terrorist attacks, extremist ideologies, or war- zones. What individuals often don’t think of is the oxygen that keeps terrorist groups breathing – money. At their root, however, terrorist groups are in the business of raising funds and seeking out financial sustainability. Without solvency, groups would be unable to fund their operations and, therefore, unable to spread their ideologies. To quote Amos Gilad, the former director of the Israeli Defense Ministry’s Political-Military Affairs Bureau, finance is indispensable and “like fuel for the car.”
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