Curbing the Market for Cyber Weapons
The United States and its international partners are permitting an unregulated, global market for cyber weapons to flourish. Weaponized zero-day ("Oday") exploits to attack the control systems for the power grid and other critical infrastructure components are on sale to criminals, terrorists, and rogue nations. Policymakers have begun to recognize the imperative to curb this market. There is no consensus, however, on the measures needed to do so. We propose three initial steps to begin curbing the market for weaponized Oday exploits. First, the United States should incentivize developers of critical infrastructure industrial control systems and applications layer software to minimize security flaws in their products. The Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act provides an especially promising means to strengthen these incentives and should be amended to authorize such software developers to apply for liability coverage under the Act. Second, through the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies, the United States and its international partners should establish uniform controls of dangerous Oday exploit sales targeting critical infrastructure. Third, the United States should amend the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to strengthen its ability to prosecute researchers located both domestically and abroad who recklessly sell dangerous exploits targeting critical infrastructure to America’s adversaries.
AVICS-Eco Framework: An Approach to Attack Prediction and Vulnerability Assessment in a Cyber Ecosystem
In the light of recent cyber-attacks, it has become imperative for organizations to predict breaches in an accurate and comprehensive manner. In this study, we assess the impact of the external environment as well as factors internal to the organization. We propose the AVICS-Eco Framework to (i) predict cyber-attacks in organizations, (ii) assess critical vulnerabilities, (iii) aid IS managers to plan security investments, and, (iv) decide what to patch and when to patch. We validated our model using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling. We have used CSI-FBI, Ponemon and Checkpoint Survey data from 1997 to 2015. As a recommendation, CTOs should be cautious with the vulnerable software of specific categories. We derived that software vendors need to prioritize patches on Networks before Operating Systems. Firewalls were found to be superior in comparison to anti-viruses. Finally, we found limited support for cybersecurity legal provisions as attack inhibitors in the United States.
The identity and self-perception of artists-managers
Manager’s and artist’s professional identities seem to be opposite, but there are many indications that this understanding is not justified in reality. Despite the contradictions, these two identities can intersect. The paper aims to define the characteristics of the artists-managers’ identity. The object of the study was qualitative research (n = 22) conducted in the form of in-depth interviews with key informants from the international environment. The practical objective was to verify common and contradicted features of the artist’s and the manager’s identities among artists-managers to understand the possibilities of reducing the intra-psychic tensions and ways of fruitful paradoxical thinking among managers and negative consequences for personalities and organizations. The study reveals common characteristics between the artist’s and manager’s identities and describes artists-managers’ identity. Although artists-managers experience diversity between both identities, they do not see them as contrary; they use paradoxical thinking, being experts in using personal seemingly contradictory characteristics to achieve outstanding performance. Acting in paradoxical contexts and focusing on the positive aspects of seemingly contradictory personal qualities, they find nonstandard creative solutions. By trying to understand and implement their self-construction, there is the possibility to reduce the intra-psychic tensions and negative consequences of seemingly opposite identities or goals among individuals in organizations. There is a synergy between the manager’s and artist’s identities. Understanding the nature and attributes of artistic creativity, aesthetic theories and the phenomenon of artist-manager’s identity can be a valuable contribution to the practice of management and organizational life.