Cyber-security (4th edition, 2015)

Myriam Dunn Cavelty

This chapter looks at why cyber-security is considered one of the key national security issues of our times. The first section provides the necessary technical background information. The second section unravels three different, but interrelated ways to look at cyber-security: the first discourse has a technical focus and is about viruses and worms; the second looks at the interrelationship between the phenomenon of cyber-crime and cyber-espionage; the third turns to a military and civil defence driven discourse about the double-edged sword of fighting wars in the information domain and the need for critical infrastructure protection. Based on this, the third section looks at selected protection concepts from each of the three discourses. The final section sets the threat into perspective: despite heightened media attention and a general feeling of impending cyber-doom in some government circles, the level of cyber-risk is generally overstated