Cybersecurity, Disease, and Trafficking: Global Security Threats
Cybersecurity and Hacktivists
Hacktivists combine hacking with political activism. A number of groups use the internet in support of their causes.
Information as a Tool of War
Since the 1991 Gulf War, information has been a central and very effective tool in the fight against terrorism. Both governments and nonstate actors around the world have become heavily dependent on networked computers to manage and disseminate information. The US military has equipped itself to collect and process information as an integral part of its war-fighting abilities (e.g., finding Osama bin Laden). Problem: Often there is so much data that national intelligence agencies cannot process all of the information available in a timely fashion.
Cyberspace
The term “cyberspace” comes from the Greek word meaning “control.” It is a global domain within the information environment consisting of the interdependent network of information technology infrastructures, including the internet, telecommunications networks, computer systems, and embedded processors and controllers. The millions of computers linked to assembly lines, municipal power grids, air traffic control systems, stock markets, and drones are all a part of cyberspace. War in cyberspace is waged digitally.
Malware
Malware is malicious software and includes viruses, worms, and Trojan horses.
Botnets
Botnets are made up of a large number of computers that have been infected with malicious software that allows them to be controlled remotely via the internet. Owners of the individual computers in a botnet are usually unaware their computer is doing someone else’s bidding. Botnets can be rented out to governments and nonstate actors. A botnet is also known as cybersecurity’s WMD: a network of private computers infected with malware that can be taken over without the owner’s knowledge. Goals include delaying, disrupting, corrupting, exploiting, destroying, stealing, or modifying information.
Logic Bombs
Logic bombs will remain dormant in an enemy system until a predetermined time, when they will come to life and begin eating data, causing malfunctions. They are planted during peacetime to be used during wartime and can be inserted into software as it is being developed. A logic bomb is a cyberwar tactic, a piece of code intentionally inserted into a software system that will set off a malicious function when specified conditions are met. For example, a programmer may hide a piece of code that starts deleting files (such as a salary database trigger) should they ever be terminated from the company.
Stuxnet
Stuxnet is the first cyberweapon to cause physical damage. It was used by Israel and the US, intended to slow down Iranian nuclear development. It can be used to disrupt entire industries or even shut down a regional power grid. The US and Israel created Stuxnet to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program. It is a clear example of cyberwar that accompanied kinetic warfare and destruction. It caused physical destruction to Iran’s nuclear facility.
Cyber Weapons and International Cooperation
Cyber weapons can take various forms, including viruses, worms, Trojan horses, denial-of-service attacks, and phishing. Many attacks begin with botnets. Cyber weapons operate in other, unconventional domains and thus are more difficult to limit. They are based on dual-use technologies (e.g., computers). Malware is easier to hide than kinetic weapons. An international agreement to limit cyber weapons would likely infringe upon the privacy rights of individuals and the intellectual property rights of both individuals and corporations. International law already prohibits states from launching cyberattacks or any other forms of attack except in self-defense. Defining cyberattacks under international law might help to dissuade state actors from pushing the limits of cyberwar. The 2001 Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime entered into force in 2004. It attempted to standardize the legal approaches to cybercrime being adopted by individual states to promote cooperation in detecting and punishing such crimes. The Convention has expanded beyond Europe to the US, Japan, Canada, and South Africa, but not Russia. There was also a US-China agreement on cyber espionage under Obama in 2015.
Infectious Disease and National Security
Why is disease a security threat? It harms the health, economic growth, and development of a population. An unhealthy labor force is less capable of physical labor, especially in service-based economies. The inability to provide proper healthcare undermines a government’s legitimacy. Infectious diseases, in concert with non-infectious conditions, are likely to slow socioeconomic growth, which can potentially impact democratization and regime stability. Many non-state actors have gained local and international stature and power by providing healthcare services that the government failed to provide. Infectious diseases also pose a risk to military strength. Widespread ill health, especially among youths, may reduce a country’s pool of healthy and capable military recruits. It can compromise diplomatic efforts. Infectious disease and embargoes are security dilemmas of disease—the capacity to overcome disease is hindered by strategies to defend against it. Overuse and misuse of antibiotics stimulate the development of drug-resistant strains of bacteria.
Ebola
Ebola was first identified in 1976 in the DRC (then Zaire). It is a severe, often fatal disease named after the Ebola River. Several outbreaks occurred in 24 African countries. The Ebola outbreak in Africa was exacerbated by:
- Lack of adequate medical and quarantine facilities and personnel
- Delayed response from affected countries’ governments and the international community
- Burial practices in West Africa called for the washing of the deceased. Ebola spread through contact with bodily fluids, and bodies remained highly contagious even after death.
The 2014 Ebola Crisis in Guinea demonstrated several realities of contemporary international security:
- It was clear that Ebola was not an exception to what to expect for the future but a precedent.
- A rapid response by national, non-governmental, and international actors was needed to stem disease outbreaks from becoming pandemics. The traditional approach regards security purely in state-centric military terms; however, the Ebola crisis demonstrates the threat posed by infectious disease calls this view into question.
PEPFAR: The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
PEPFAR was created by President Bush and announced in his 2003 State of the Union address. It was created after the tragic effects of the AIDS pandemic. It sought to provide aid to countries plagued by AIDS (predominantly in Sub-Saharan Africa). Originally, it pledged over $15 billion over a five-year period, and in 2008, PEPFAR was reauthorized for an additional five years at up to $48 billion. Since its inception, the program has provided antiretroviral treatment for 7.7 million people worldwide, HIV testing and counseling for 56.7 million people (including 14.2 million pregnant women), 6.5 million voluntary medical male circumcisions, care and support for more than 5 million orphans and at-risk children, and training for more than 140,000 new healthcare workers in PEPFAR-supported countries. It is the largest appropriation of funds by a country to combat a single disease in history (remembered as one of the more positive accomplishments of the Bush administration).
WHO: World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is the United Nations’ public health arm. It directs and coordinates international health within the UN system, monitors disease outbreaks, assesses the performance of health systems around the globe, and maintains world health. It had a successful campaign to eliminate smallpox. It facilitated the cooperation of states, international organizations, and NGOs, which is key to confronting the threat of infectious disease.
GAVI Alliance
The GAVI Alliance was formerly known as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations. It was established in 2000 with an initial grant of $750 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It makes vaccines and immunizations available to those within the world’s poorest countries. By the end of 2014, the GAVI Alliance estimated that it had prevented the future death of 3.1 million people, most of them children; 257 million children received vaccinations as a consequence of $5 billion in donations from states and nonprofit organizations funneled through the GAVI Alliance during its first decade. It provides a good example of what can be accomplished through a broad-based, cooperative approach among global actors, including governments, international organizations, NGOs, and the private sector.
Gates Foundation
The Gates Foundation is the wealthiest foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. Thus far, it has distributed over $3 billion, much of it to improve global health. It helped to fund the GAVI Alliance.
Infectious Disease and the Role of Female Literacy
Female literacy is an important aspect of addressing the HIV/AIDS pandemic and other infectious diseases around the world. More than half of the people living with AIDS are women. AIDS is the leading cause of death in their reproductive years. Many men in the developing world who frequent prostitutes or use intravenous drugs marry younger women, infecting them with HIV/AIDS. Two-thirds of the world’s illiterate population are women. They are unaware of the dangers of and precautions against HIV/AIDS infection. Increasing women’s literacy programs is one way to address the problem of AIDS and other issues. It is also a means of addressing population control. An increasing number of studies show that gender equality in education promotes economic growth and reduces child mortality and malnutrition.
Transnational Criminal Organizations
Examples include Mexican drug cartels, the Japanese Yakuza, the Italian Mafia, and the Russian Mob. They exploit differences in criminal law and law enforcement and operate outside the law. TCOs have come to control territory, extract rents (taxes) in areas under their control, provide services for local populations, and even wage war (all of these are functions normally associated with sovereign states). In a few extreme cases, TCOs have gone beyond performing governmental functions and have actually taken over a state via bribery, patronage, intimidation, and assassinations. They thrive where the state’s capacity to make and enforce the law is weak due to indifference, corruption, or conflict. In 2010, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimated that TCOs generated $870 billion the previous year (roughly 1.5% of the world’s total economic output). Trafficking income seems to be steadily rising. TCOs have significant impacts on economic, human, national, and international security. They provide funding for insurgents. The wealth generated by trafficking creates a disincentive for warlords to make peace, as well as the means to arm themselves with sophisticated weaponry and technology. They threaten and undermine the rule of law by corrupting lawmakers and law enforcement with wealth generated by criminal activity or by intimidating them with acts or threats of violence. They sometimes fund terrorism. The global reach of TCOs is facilitated by globalization, which allows consumers in the industrialized world to buy goods and products manufactured around the world, and traffickers are able to move commodities and money easily.
Trafficking
Trafficking is illegal trade or commerce involving legal goods traded illegally and to commerce involving illegal goods traded in any manner whatsoever. It is not a product of globalization but rather an ancient activity (examples include the bones of saints, Dutch tulips, and literature on birth control). Today, a wide variety of commodities is trafficked (examples include highly enriched uranium, endangered species of both plants and animals, stolen art, weapons, human organs, human lives, and illegally copied software, music, and movies). Drug trafficking and arms trafficking are the two most lucrative. TCOs are behind most of the trafficking, and states have generally been ill-adapted to addressing the problems presented by TCOs.
Drug Trafficking
Drug trafficking generates enormous wealth. It has been criminalized and securitized. Drug traffickers regularly and persistently employ violence to intimidate government officials, battle with rival traffickers over access to markets and supplies, and use force to facilitate business in many other ways. Narcoterrorism was coined to describe the use of violence by drug syndicates against government officials, journalists, and others (e.g., Mexican drug cartels). Drug trafficking is the backbone of TCOs. The demand for illicit drugs is fed by a global network of production and distribution. Traffickers use profits from the drug trade to buy top-notch weapons. Drug trafficking also includes counterfeit drugs, which predominantly affects the world’s poor.
Human Trafficking
Basic forms of modern slavery include forced labor, bonded labor, or forced prostitution. It flourishes because it is lucrative and represents the underside of globalization. International travel has become inexpensive and simple. The increasing wealth of many of the world’s people has dramatically expanded markets for domestic laborers (like maids and nannies), for consumer goods that are sometimes manufactured in sweatshops, and for sex tourism. Human trafficking treats human beings as commodities to be bought and sold. Traffickers prey on the worst forms of human tragedy: people in crushing poverty are the most vulnerable to the false promises of traffickers. Economic security provides the best protection against most forms of human trafficking. Human trafficking tragically impacts its victims but does not appear to destabilize governments or to promote large-scale violence. Consequently, traditionalists have seen no reason to securitize the issue, although it is widely understood as a human security issue.
Arms Trafficking
Arms trafficking is the illegal trade in weapons, generally overshadowed by the legal, government-sanctioned trade in arms. In most instances, traffickers sell to buyers whom legal dealers will not do business with: rebel armies, terrorist organizations, drug traffickers, and other actors that threaten states and international order. The impact of arms trafficking on security is neither indirect nor incidental. The availability of weapons helps sustain conflicts, etc. Arms traffickers turn conflict resolution and disarmament to their advantage, as in postwar demilitarization. Arms traffickers are middlemen; they sell but do not manufacture weapons. Arms trafficking is commonly fed by the profits generated by other forms of illegal commerce (e.g., drug trafficking). High-tech weapons are trafficked, but small arms present the greater security concern.
Viktor Bout
Viktor Bout is otherwise known as the “Merchant of Death.” He is a Russian businessman alleged to have sold over 700 surface-to-air missiles, military helicopters and airplanes, and thousands of guns to FARC. He also sold weapons to Afghanistan and in various war zones in Africa. He was caught after trying to sell weapons to undercover agents of the US Drug Enforcement Agency in 2010 and sentenced to 25 years in a federal prison in 2012.