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    Digital Earth: Cyber threats, privacy and ethics in an age of paranoia
    Digital Earth: Cyber threats, privacy and ethics in an age of paranoia
    Digital Earth: Cyber threats, privacy and ethics in an age of paranoia
    Ebook127 pages1 hour

    Digital Earth: Cyber threats, privacy and ethics in an age of paranoia

    By Sarah Katz and Georgina Morton

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    Digital Earth – Cyber threats, privacy and ethics in an age of paranoia

    Whether it’s the next big ransomware attack or cyber terrorism, digital threats have evolved drastically in recent years. Issues surrounding phishing, misinformation, cyber terrorism, physical security, and privacy continue to arise for both individual users and large enterprises.

    With technology an intrinsic part of our everyday lives, we need to be aware of digital threats, and be able to identify other threats such as phishing, ransomware, and spyware before they can wreak havoc in our professional or personal lives.

    This book discusses the most prevalent technological threats that we face today. It is an accessible guide that highlights the most common cyber attacks, and explores data ethics and privacy in an age where we hold so much of our PII (personally identifiable information) online.

    It covers cyber threats such as phishing, disinformation versus misinformation in a post-COVID-19 world, cyber terrorism, and the power of social media, and analyzes ever-evolving privacy concerns in response to technological advances. For example, does the use of drones by law enforcement offer us complete security or raise questions around the privacy of citizens?

    The book focuses on:

    • The spike in phishing amid the COVID-19 pandemic
    • Cyber terrorism
    • The risks associated with social media
    • Whether drones are a search-and-rescue solution or the all-seeing eye in the sky
    LanguageEnglish
    Publisheritgovernance
    Release dateApr 28, 2022
    ISBN9781787783614
    Author

    Sarah Katz

    Sarah Katz is a graduate of UC Berkeley with a background in cybersecurity. She works as a Technical Writer at Microsoft, and previously worked at NASA. Her writing has appeared in Cyber Defense Magazine, Dark Reading, Infosecurity Magazine, and Tech Xplore. Sarah has served as a cybersecurity speaker for the Brazilian technical institute IGTI, and is pursuing a PhD in cyberpsychology with a focus on user security in augmented reality. The short film “Rationale” – currently in production – based on her eponymous short story and published in Thriller Magazine, is about the risks of using mood-altering technology to enhance cognition.

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      Book preview

      Digital Earth - Sarah Katz

      Digital Earth

      Cyber threats, privacy and ethics in an age of paranoia

      Digital Earth

      Cyber threats, privacy and ethics in an age of paranoia

      SARAH KATZ

      Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publisher and the author cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. Any opinions expressed in this book are those of the author, not the publisher. Websites identified are for reference only, not endorsement, and any website visits are at the reader’s own risk. No responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the publisher or the author.

      Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publisher or, in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publisher at the following address:

      IT Governance Publishing Ltd

      Unit 3, Clive Court

      Bartholomew’s Walk

      Cambridgeshire Business Park

      Ely, Cambridgeshire

      CB7 4EA

      United Kingdom

      www.itgovernancepublishing.co.uk

      © Sarah Katz 2022

      The author has asserted the rights of the author under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

      First published in the United Kingdom in 2022 by IT Governance Publishing.

      ISBN 978-1-78778-361-4

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      Sarah Katz is a graduate of UC Berkeley with a background in cybersecurity. She works as a technical writer at Microsoft®, and previously worked at NASA. Her writing has appeared in Cyber Defense Magazine, Dark Reading, Infosecurity Magazine, and Tech Xplore. Sarah has served as a cybersecurity speaker for the Brazilian technical institute IGTI, and is pursuing a PhD in cyberpsychology with a focus on user security in augmented reality. The short film Rationale – currently in production – based on her eponymous short story and published in Thriller Magazine, is about the risks of using mood-altering technology to enhance cognition.

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      I would like to thank Allen Joe who was my supervisor during my time at NASA, and who served as a main source of inspiration for this book.

      I would also like to thank Yinka Akingbehin, Chris Evans, and Christopher Wright for reviewing this book during the production process.

      CONTENTS

      Introduction

      Chapter one: The spike in phishing amid the COVID-19 pandemic

      Key terms for this chapter

      Chaos theory in cyber threat mitigation

      The application of chaos theory to the assessment of phishing attacks

      Chapter two: A glance at the history of phishing mitigation practices

      The risk of phishing to federal health care agencies

      Applications of chaos theory in cyber threat mitigation, including phishing attacks

      Machine learning tools for phishing prevention

      Persuasive factors used in phishing attacks

      User awareness of email legitimacy verification techniques

      Chapter three: The hard truth – How little many users understand about identifying malicious emails

      Tackling email headers

      Next steps: Computer-assisted threat detection

      Chapter four: Disinformation versus misinformation in a post-COVID world

      Global information sharing

      Content moderators

      How to spot misinformation

      Managing content moderation: In theory and practice

      Next steps: Head above water in cyberspace

      Chapter five: Cyber terrorism and the firepower of social media

      Why convey a message to the masses?

      Making it look alluring

      Using social media to attract and recruit

      Next steps: Keep an eye on that friend request

      Chapter six: Drones – A search and rescue solution or the all-seeing eye in the sky?

      The technicalities of civilian privacy in UAV criminal investigation

      San Jose as a case study

      Those opposed

      Those in favor

      Calming the public outcry

      Balancing technological surveillance measures with public interest

      Next steps: Securing the wireless target

      Recent developments

      Chapter seven: Tying it all together

      Appendix A: Bibliography

      Further reading

      INTRODUCTION

      Information security concerns such as foreign meddling in politics, such as the 2016 US presidential election¹ and phishing campaigns that used the COVID-19 pandemic to intimidate victims into engaging with malicious email,² have made user security awareness a chief priority for the cybersecurity space. Whether it’s news of the next big ransomware attack or attackers turning to the Internet to commit terrorism, a multitude of threats have evolved. From phishing to political interference to cyber terrorism to police surveillance, issues of data and physical security as well as privacy continue to arise in the use of computers for both the individual user and large enterprise alike.

      In fact, as many threat actors seek to attack the government infrastructure of powerful nations as well as the personal information of citizens, the United States federal and private health care sectors as well as users of social media and wireless devices have all become significant target risk groups.³ Although a wealth of research exists assessing the persuasive emotional methods used in phishing attacks, the tendency of users to fall victim to a variety of social engineering tactics might operate alongside the equally important factor of insufficient user awareness.

      Given the increasing danger for both individuals and organizations, we must consider the various threats posed by online attacks across multiple spaces and from many different angles. Additionally, with technology an intrinsic part of our everyday lives, we need to be aware of digital threats, and be able to identify other threats such as phishing, ransomware, and spyware before they can wreak havoc in our professional or personal lives.

      Throughout this book, we will discuss cyber threats such as phishing, disinformation versus misinformation in a post-COVID-19 world, cyber terrorism, and the power of social media, and ever-evolving privacy concerns in response to technological advances.

      ¹ 2016 Presidential Campaign Hacking Fast Facts. CNN, October 28, 2020, https://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/26/us/2016-presidential-campaign-hacking-fast-facts/index.html

      .

      ² Brumley, K. COVID-19 Scam Alerts.

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