An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 25 attacks on Red Sea shipping have all utilised this easy-to-access, cheap technology. Online social media, including Snapchat and Instagram, are used by criminals here in Europe to groom children and other vulnerable people online into conducting criminal activities such as drug running and money laundering in return for cash, vapes, phones and designer clothing - activities which result in their families being in debt to the criminals and subject to the most extreme forms of exploitation. Indeed, cyberspace is used across the world for such criminal activity. According to JCSC instructor Lt John Sullivan of the LA County Sheriff's Department the use of social media by gangs and criminal cartels is multifaceted including recruitment, (enabling a sense of 'identity' for vulnerable individuals), facilitating criminal activity, and, in some countries, communicating direct threats against rivals, journalists, and government officials, including police and mayors. This creates a 'narcocultura' with devastating consequences for communities, states Lt Sullivan. Some countries will utilise cyberspace for their own hostile intentions. Cash-strapped North Korea uses 'ransomware' to acquire revenue. Cyberspace is used by China to steal data and intellectual property. Cyberspace is used to influence public opinion and referendums. Russia was likely able to influence social media to affect the 2016 Brexit referendum; indeed, Robert Gates, former US Defense Secretary and CIA Director stated there is "no doubt in my mind that Putin intervened in Brexit". This had profound consequences not only for the UK but also for us here in Ireland and across the EU. Moreover, Russia utilises cyberspace disinformation to ferment hostile attitudes against refugees, to increase dependence on its energy reserves (by propagation of false information about alternatives), and to attempt to shape public opinion on its illegal invasions of Ukraine. Likewise, the Myanmar government uses cyberspace via social media to spread disinformation and facilitate its vast levels of violence against the Rohingya population. Cybersecurity here is about ensuring that social media platforms such as Facebook are not used for 'fake news' which can be used either to influence public opinion or indeed enable violence against entire communities. Online 'social engineering' is used for a vast number of cybersecurity breaches. Hostile actors create false profiles, luring victims to give-up highly personal information with which they can be blackmailed. What we post online - photos of our families, partner's work location, our house, where we are being deployed - can be used to create a complete understanding of us and our families, which is then used to threaten us. 'Sextortion' blackmail is a primary method used to gain access to governments and militaries. Emails and texts are easy to fake. Clicking on a malicious link causes our phones or smartwatches to be used as a microphone, camera, or location tracking device when we are at home or deployed overseas. Such 'phishing' messages are highly convincing, appearing to be from someone you know and trust. Preventing this social engineering manipulation is one of the most important cybersecurity aspects for the Defence Forces. The way in which nefarious actors target children, teenagers, military personnel, and people of all ages is incredibly similar. We significantly need to improve our awareness and understanding. Ireland has recently become a member of the Hybrid Centre of Excellence (Hybrid COE) Helsinki, an EU / NATO backed organisation researching and advising on hybrid threats. Membership of Hybrid COE is invaluable for the present and future security of Ireland. Over the next seven years we will continue to see cyberspace utilised by those who wish to harm us. It is imperative we think about cybersecurity holistically so that we can combat these threats and challenges. A miscomprehension about what cybersecurity is puts us all at enormous risk. Cybersecurity is not about computers, networks and firewalls and this incorrect assumption means we fail to protect our cyberspace, with potentially devastating consequences arising from the hybrid threats and challenges we will increasingly face. Addressing this misunderstanding about what cybersecurity actually is has been the single most critical part of my role in the last seven years. The most important matter going forward as I step away from the JCSC is emphasizing that cybersecurity matters to every one of us and affects our security, the security of ourselves, our families, friends, and colleagues across the EU and here in Ireland. Dinos Anthony Kerigan-Kyrou coordinated and instructed cybersecurity and hybrid threats on the Senior Command & Staff Course, and then the Joint Command & Staff Course, between 2017 and 2024. He is an instructor on NATO DEEP - Defence Education Enhancement Programme. He is a co-author of the NATO / Partnership for Peace Consortium Cyber Security Reference Curriculum, and the NATO / PfPC Hybrid Threats and Hybrid Warfare Curriculum. He is an assistant instructor at the NATO Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Centre (NMIOTC), and an adjunct instructor for the European Security & Defence College. Dinos is on the Editorial Board of the PfPC publication Connections, and is Senior Advisor to the NATO DEEP eAcademy. Leading expert on cybersecurity and cognitive warfare Dr Aleksandra Nesic instructing on the JCSC Houthi Terrorist Attacks on Shipping Burmese Military Genocide – Initiated Online

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