• Extremist Propaganda Remained at Historic Levels in 2021

    The distribution of propaganda by racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) remained at historic levels across the United States in 2021, with a total 4,851 cases of racist, anti-Semitic and other hateful messages. The latest data comes amid a surge in anti-Semitic hate fliering in January and February targeting at least 15 states nationwide.

  • A Systems Approach to Cybersecurity

    The frequency and severity of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure is a subject of concern for many governments, as are the costs associated with cyber security, making the efficient allocation of resources paramount. A new study proposes a framework featuring a more holistic picture of the cyber security landscape, along with a model that explicitly represents multiple dimensions of the potential impacts of successful cyberattacks.

  • Social Media May Create Ambiguity during Acute Crises

    In an acute crisis, it can be difficult to know exactly what has happened and how to respond. Sometimes it’s not a lack of information that is the biggest problem, but that huge amounts of information on social media create ambiguity. During such times, it is particularly important to be critical of sources, as both the behavior of users and the structure of the platforms contribute to this lack of clarity.

  • A War Within a War: Cyberattacks Signal a New Approach to Combat

    In addition to fighting with troops on the ground, Ukraine is also defending itself on another front, from cyberattack.

  • Cyberspace: The New Battleground in Modern-Day Warfare

    Twenty-first century battles are now being fought digitally, as well as with missiles on land, sea and air. Bolstering cybersecurity is thus becoming ever more important as nation states wage war in new and complex arenas.

  • Researchers Show They Can Steal Data During Homomorphic Encryption

    Homomorphic encryption is considered a next generation data security technology, but researchers have identified a vulnerability that allows them to steal data even as it is being encrypted.

  • Computer Security Researchers Aim to Prevent Tech Abuse

    Tech abuse often exists within a larger web of harm. Assailants can abuse their victims through tech including spyware, also known as stalkerware, and through inappropriate use of location-tracking features in phones and other devices. They harass their former partners on social media, hack into email accounts, and more. Researchers have created a new approach to helping survivors of domestic abuse stop assailants from hacking into their devices and social media to surveil, harass and hurt them.

  • Hacker Underground | Belarus to Join the Fight | Western Arms, and more

    Vladimir Putin accused of war crimes, while Belarus’s military is ready to join the war on Russia’s side. Ukraine hackers vow to stop Russia, as fears grow the Russia’s likely cyber attack on Ukraine will spill over into other countries.

  • Why Putin’s War with Ukraine Is a Miscalculation

    Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is a geopolitical earthquake that will cause repercussions far beyond Europe. But the Russian president might be planting the seeds for the demise of his regime by overreaching.

  • How Much Damage Could a Russian Cyberattack Do in the U.S.?

    U.S. intelligence analysts have determined that Moscow would consider a cyberattack against the U.S. as the Ukraine crisis grows. As a scholar of Russian cyber operations, I know the Kremlin has the capacity to damage critical U.S. infrastructure systems.

  • Wide Range of Possible Targets for Russian Cyberstrikes, from Infrastructure to Smartphones

    For years prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s government waged cyberwar aimed at destabilizing the country’s infrastructure, government, and financial systems, including several distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks in the run-up to this week’s assault. What are Russia’s cyberwarfare capabilities, and what would a cyberattack against the U.S. look like?

  • Which is the Bigger Threat: Offline or Online Radicalization?

    The Global Network on Extremism Technology (GNET) has just released a report which seeks answers to these questions: Are those radicalized offline or online more of a threat? Which group is harder to detect, more successful in completing attacks, and more lethal when they do so? Is the pattern different for youth versus older perpetrators and for men versus women?

  • The U.S. Digital Security Challenges: Q&A with Frederic Lemieux

    The U.S. is facing many digital challenges: Ransomware attacks; critical infrastructure vulnerability; exploitation of flaws in widely used software packages such as SolarWinds; potential Russian cyberattacks resulting from the Ukraine crisis; shortage of cybersecurity talent which leaves many government and private sector positions vacant; and many more. HSNW talked with Georgetown’s Professor Frederic Lemieux, a recognized expert in the fields of global threats and homeland security.

  • A Security Technique Fools Would-Be Cyber Attackers

    Multiple programs running on the same computer may not be able to directly access each other’s hidden information, but because they share the same memory hardware, their secrets could be stolen by a malicious program through a “memory timing side-channel attack.” Researchers demonstrate a method that safeguards a computer program’s secret information while enabling faster computation.

  • How AI Is Shaping the Cybersecurity Arms Race

    The average business receives 10,000 alerts every day from the various software tools it uses to monitor for intruders, malware and other threats. Dealing with this avalanche of alerts is achallenge which underscores the need for better ways to stem the tide of cyber-breaches.