Safeguarding Australia from cyber-terrorism: a SCADA risk framework

Terrorist groups are currently using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to orchestrate their conventional attacks. More recently, terrorists have been developing a new form of capability within the cyber-arena to coordinate cyber-based attacks. This chapter identifies that cyber-terrorism capabilities are an integral, imperative, yet under-researched component in establishing, and enhancing cyber-terrorism risk assessment models for SCADA systems. This chapter examines a cyber-terrorism SCADA risk framework that has been adopted and validated by SCADA industry practitioners. The chapter proposes a high level managerial framework, which is designed to measure and protect SCADA systems from the threat of cyber-terrorism within Australia. The findings and results of an industry focus group are presented in support of the developed framework for SCADA industry acceptance.

Combating cyber attacks in cloud computing using machine learning techniques.

An extensive investigative survey on Cloud Computing with the main focus on gaps that is slowing down Cloud adoption as well as reviewing the threat remediation challenges. Some experimentally supported thoughts on novel approaches to address some of the widely discussed cyber-attack types using machine learning techniques. The thoughts have been constructed in such a way so that Cloud customers can detect the cyber-attacks in their VM without much help from Cloud service provider

Multi-agent approach for enhancing security of protection schemes in cyber-physical energy systems

This paper presents a distributed multi-agent scheme to detect and identify cyber threats on the protection systems of power grids. The integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) into existing power grids builds critical cyberphysical energy systems CPESs) in which digital relays are networked cyber-physical components subject to various cyber threats. Cyber attacks on protection systems may mimic real faults, cause component failure, and disable the communication links. Agents utilize both cyber and physical properties to reinforce the detection technique and further distinguish cyber attacks from physical faults. This paper also introduces the problem of secure communicationprotocols and highlights the comparative studies for enhancing thesecurity of the protection systems. The proposed scheme is validatedusing a benchmark power system under various fault and cyber attack scenarios.

Young children's everyday concepts about the internet: Implications for cyber-safety education in the early years

Young children from around the world are accessing the internet in ever increasing numbers. The rapid increase in internet activity by children aged 4–5 years in particular is due to the ease access enabled them by touchscreen internet-enabled tablet technologies. With young children now online, often independently of adult supervision, the need for early childhood cyber-safety education is becoming urgent. In this paper, we report the early findings from a project aimed at examining the development of cybersafety education for young children. We argue that cyber-safety education for young children cannot be effectively developed without first considering young children’s thinking about the internet. In this paper, we use Vygotsky’s ideas about the development of mature concepts from the merging of everyday and scientific concepts. We identify the potential range of everyday concepts likely to form the basis of young children’s thinking about the internet as a platform for cyber-safety education in the early years.

Entrepreneurial opportunities on the internet

This chapter highlights and discusses entrepreneurial opportunities on the Internet. It provides a brief introduction to entrepreneurship, examines the characteristics of entrepreneurs, and talks about cyber entrepreneurs. It includes a case study which demonstrates the opportunities and challenges of cyber entrepreneurship. The case study illustrates the ease of setting up a business on the Internet by the younger generation with little capital and resource requirement. It highlights the fact that an intensive marketing campaign, perseverance, and some technical knowledge are important traits of cyber entrepreneurs. The other issues apparent from the case study are an opportunistic mindset, innovation, and the ability to create value where there was none before.

A national information infrastructure model for information warfare defence

Information infrastructures are an eclectic mix of open and closed networks, private and public systems, the Internet, and government, military, and civilian organisations. Significant efforts are required to provide infrastructure protection, increase cooperation between sectors, and identify points of responsibility. The threats to infrastructures are many and various, and are increasing daily: information warfare, hackers, terrorists, criminals, activists, and even competing organisations all pose significant threats that cannot be sufficiently dealt with using the current infrastructure model. We present a National Information Infrastructure model that is based on defence against threats such as information warfare.

Power relations in virtual communities: an ethnographic study

Peoples' need to socialize with others and greed for power can be best captured with Aristotle's description of human beings as “political animals”/“social animals.” This paper reports on observations of how cyber communities, such as Web-based forums and mailing lists, manifest themselves through social interactions and shared values, membership and friendship, and commitments and loyalty. The paper highlights the importance of power relations in these communities, how they are formed, exercised and evolve. This paper explores power relations as they emerge in two online Vietnamese communities and suggests a new understanding of the formation and evolution of power in virtual societies.

Speed, international security, and "New War" coverage in cyberspace

Mass media representations foster a view that the "War on Terror" is taking place both everywhere and nowhere, presenting Western governments with an opportunity to mobilize public support in new and ubiquitous ways. Starting with Virilio's critique of technology, speed, and de-territorialization, this article discusses the ways in which mass support is mobilized by the state in conventional pursuit of geopolitical objectives. Drawing on  contemporary international relations theory, the authors introduce the concept of "securitization" and discuss how war coverage in cyberspace has been used to securitize international threats, such as "global terrorism," to justify state intervention, including war. It is concluded that one of the paradoxes of war coverage in cyberspace is that whereas cyber-technologies should democratize the politics of war by liberating access to information about war, the state has coopted information and communication technologies to facilitate new forms of mass mobilization for war itself.

IP spoofing attack and its countermeasures

IP spoofing is a technique used to gain unauthorized access to computers, whereby the intruder sends messages to a computer with an IP address indicating that the message is coming from a trusted host. It causes serious security problem in the cyber world, and is currently exploited widely in the information warfare. This paper at first introduces the IP spoofing attack through examples, technical issues and attacking types. Later its countermeasures are analysed in detail, which include authentication and encription, filtering and IP traceback. In particular, an IP traceback mechanism, Flexible Deterministic Packet Marking (FDPM) is presented. Since the IP spoofing problem can not be solved only by technology, but it also needs social regulation, the legal issues and economic impact are discussed in the later part.

Would the 'real' girl gamer please stand up? Gender, LAN cafes and the reformulation of the 'girl' gamer.

In this paper we consider the significance of cyber 'LAN' cafeacutes as sites where on and off-line practices meet in way that complicates binary notions of the gendered gamer. Existing research into computer games culture suggests a male dominated environment and points to girls' lower levels of competence and participation in games. Building on recent studies interested in the constitution of gender through engagement with online technologies, we draw on Judith Butler's politics of performative resignification, and conceptualise digital culture as a resource through which 'girl' gamers are mobilised and potentially reformulated, experiencing their gaming identities in contradictory ways, and fragmenting the category 'girl' in the very act of articulating their place in a male dominated gaming culture. It is argued that through the meeting of on and off-line practices, LAN cafeacutes operate as a location that is particularly amenable to reformulative work in relation to gendered gaming identities.

Literacy in the new media age: creativity as multimodal design

Much of the current discourse of adolescence is best described as emblematic of modernity, as colonial, as gendered, and as administrative (Lesko, 2001) working to maintain “progressive” school literacy practices that ignore adolescents’ new “cyber-techno subjectivity” (Luke & Luke, 2001) and creativity in the “new media age” (Kress, 2003). School curricula often do not acknowledge the range of skills adolescents acquire outside formal education. Youths’ new multimodal social and cultural practices—as they fashion themselves creatively in multiple modes as different kinds of people in “New Times” (Luke, 1998)— oints to the liberating power of new technologies that embrace their imagination and creativity. In two middle years classes, adolescents’ creativity was recognised and validated when they were encouraged to re-represent curricular knowledge through multimodal design (New London Group, 1996). The results suggest the changed classroom habitus (Bourdieu, 1980) produced new and emergent discursive and material practices where creativity, through imaginative collaboration, emerges as capital in an economy of practice (Bourdieu, 1996). The findings suggest schools should recognize adolescents’ creativity—that often manifests itself through their cultural and social capital resources—as they integrate and adapt to the new affordances acquired through their out-of-school literacy practices.

Attitudes of Australian information system managers against online attackers

Examines the attitudes of Australian IS/IT managers to the concept of cyber-vigilantism. Also, it explores the policies and procedures which have been set in place by various organisations to cope with concerted attacks on their systems. It finds that although a majority of managers do approve of the concept of “striking back”, only a minority are prepared for this eventuality. There appears to be complacency about the threats posed by organised, offensive attackers.

Innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities with internet ventures

This paper discusses innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities of Internet ventures. In the last decade the Internet has become an important communication tool as well as a platform for new business enterprises. Internet businesses are global, easy to set up with little or no capital requirements and innovative. These businesses range from intermediary services such as financial service providers supporting online payments and e-markets facilitating buying and selling in horizontal and vertical markets, to new enterprises selling unique products. However, the Internet age has seen a rise in startup dot.coms, a failure of dot.coms and an increasing trend in consolidation of the digital economy. Entrepreneurial opportunities on the Internet are highlighted in this paper with a review of literature on entrepreneurship opportunities, characteristics and and challenges. It includes case studies demonstrating the opportunities and challenges of Internet innovations and discusses characteristics of cyber entrepreneurs identified from the case studies. The relevance of technical knowledge such as computing and programming skills, perseverance and the ability to set up business with little or no capital are important traits of cyber entrepreneurs discussed in this paper. The other issues apparent from the case studies are an opportunistic and innovative mindset, and an ability to create value where there was none before. This paper highlights that Internet ventures are a type of e-business that are easy to implement, have no barriers to entry and for which technical knowledge is an asset.

Secrecy and illusion : Second Life and the construction of unreality

This paper analyses the main Second Life Grid-an Internet-based business platform with dynamic social, techno-economic, sensual-aesthetic, and psychological complexities-as an example of public relations. It argues that Second Life is a more subversive, politically oriented, and powerful form of public relations, because it invisibly exploits and invades the process of the formation of public opinion. The paper argues that Australian organisations such as Telstra, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS), which lend Second Life credibility through their recruitment, need to ask critical questions about the ethical implications of promoting this market-driven cyber-illusion. The paper begins by defining public relations (Habermas, 1995, 1984, 1989; Gramsci in Storey, 2006) and investigating any links between public relations and Second Life. In particular, it investigates Second Life's defining claim that it is 'imagined, created and owned by its residents', and concludes with a series of questions that organisations seeking involvement in Second Life should consider as part of their decision-making.

Youth culture educational reform and pedagogy

The discourse of globalisation and the knowledge economy are now front and centre of the ever changing discourse of youth and youth identity. Educational reform in Malaysian society is seeking to engage the problems of globalization and the need for reform in schooling as a prerequisite for social and economic development. The education of youth is as a critical prerequisite for national advancement and development. The syllogism that structures debate with respect to globalization, youth and education is that reform to teaching technique will lead to improved competencies in students and this in turn will lead to improvements in human capital thus leading to economic and social advancement. Missing from such a simple approach is an understanding of youth culture in its multiple forms as now being productive of capacities, knowledge’s and attitudes that are arguably often far in advance of what is taught in schools. This argues that often the action in terms of cognitive growth, glocalised competencies, collaboration, cross cultural dialogue and innovative creativity are found in youth cyber communities, popular cultural movements often portrayed as problematic or troublesome. Proper educational strategies in Malaysian schooling society require teachers to learn from their students and engage innovative pedagogy not as something to be taught top down in rote fashion, but as something that is genuinely open, interactive and dialogical. This paper will discuss this theoretical issue with specific reference to Malaysian examples and policy initiatives.