Frazier 8
Shaun Frazier
Prof. Huergo, Elizabeth
ENGL 101A 40238
June 30 2018
Climate Change and Cyber Security
Climate change and cybersecurity are two threats that worry every government in the world. Dealing with these two issues also need individuals to be involved and not just the governments. Cybersecurity is a widespread threat to online activity and global security in general but awareness about it is very minimal (Randle, 89-190.) Almost everybody knows a thing or two about cyber security but is not truly aware of the seriousness of it. Internet users may think that the internet is a safe place to share information, control the physical world and do transactions but far from it, cyber wars are continuing and users ought to be prepared. The incapacity to outline cybersecurity has led to the failure to formulate proper policies. Cybersecurity can be fostered by creating awareness and making policies that curb the threat. On the other hand, climate change is the increase in the general surface temperature of the world and can be manifested through rising sea levels, droughts, wildfires and severe weather events. Scientists agree that human activity is the primary cause of climate change (Allen, 22-38.) There is a small number of people who do not believe that climate change is a real occurrence and often probe the legitimacy of those claims, choosing to throw doubt on the multitude of evidence. They claim that one weather activity, for example, a hurricane cannot be directly connected to global warming. Even though it might be true, data gathered over several decades point to climate change and the involvement of humans in it. Climate change and cyber security are very alike in nature but are they connected? Several parallels exist between climate change threats to critical infrastructure and information risk. The correlation can assist companies to come up with successful cybersecurity policies. In the virtual space, firewalls, computer servers, routers and related technology rest at the utmost border, or edge, of a secure computer network. These cyber tools create a borderline between susceptible internal sources and external networks, and hackers time and again concentrate on getting through these perimeter devices. For instance, when cyber-attacks at the network application level are successful, they can go around the perimeter security offered by a network firewall, router, and server. Likewise, threats that come about as a result of climate change, which is similarly multi-layered and complex in type, can bypass conventional, simplistic, perimeter-focused cyber-security approaches.
We can offer to understand into successfully identifying, thwarting and countering the cyber-security menaces by extracting links between how climate change gives rise to the risk of critical infrastructure and how hackers endanger organization data. An actual example for recognizing the effects of multifaceted cyber threats is a rainstorm water surge. A water surge is not directly connected to cyber security but is similar to it especially in occurrence and how both phenomena can be dealt with. A stormwater surge leads to flooding and damage of property as it brings water deposits that surpass the volume of sewers. A stormwater surge can be compared to a computer system that is overwhelmed with data. A slackening of service could come about in an inundated system that leads to compromised entry, effectiveness and performance. Prevention of flooding and data overflows in computer systems can be tackled in the same way. For example, denial-of-service (DoS) inhibition apparatuses that comprise front-end hardware positioned on the network right before traffic gets to the servers. The front-end hardware scrutinizes data packs as they enter the system and distinguishes them in terms of priority, regular or dangerous. That strategy can be applied in a stormwater surge to prevent flooding by setting smart sump basins that control run-off water while redirecting pollution and sewage. Both cyber threats and climate change are security risks that may influence the security and safety of the most essential possessions of a country, like energy, water, and infrastructure, typically due to a conjoint aspect that is, interconnectedness. Both individual persons and country states will always be unswervingly linked to the environment, seeing that it makes available the resources essential for both prosperity and survival. The world has also turned out to be closely linked and reliant on computer-centered expertise, with virtual reality and the internet remaining a major channel. The same way in which climate change can have an impact on the accessibility and supply of energy and water, a cyber-security issue such as stealing of information by a hacker or any other attack on computers and industrial paraphernalia operating nuclear power plants, electrical power stations, and water treatment plants can produce major negative outcomes. Most of the infrastructure that suffers the negative effects of climate change, such as the infrastructures that support the internet and the cyberspace, was built without a plentiful thought about the security risks that cyber threats and climate change present. These facilities were mainly created during a period when the threats of climate change and cybersecurity were probably not apparent, ill-understood, or overlooked. They were built without measures and structures to fight these emergent threats. These outdated service amenities are predominantly susceptible to climate change. For instance, (Stapleton, 73) found out that “nearly three airports and seventy-five percent of their freight handling services, two hundred and forty-six miles of railroads, and two thousand four hundred miles of main highways, would be drowned should the sea level rise by four-feet.” It additionally discovered that a storm surge of merely eighteen feet would cause flooding to all the ports and more than half of the major roads in the region.” Alaska is an example of a region that is also encountering a dilapidation of a number of its critical infrastructure as a result of the thawing of its permafrost, largely given rise to by climate change. An immense part of the United States environments have infrastructure that is growing old and with an indefinite capability to withstand a quickly-changing climate. The U.S. Department of Energy, released a report that asserts that climate change too may trigger off a domino effect since the degradation of infrastructures may have effects on each other because of “wide-ranging interdependencies – jeopardizing local economies and health, particularly in places in which human populaces and commercial activities are clustered like in urban regions (Fan Jianhua, 57-91.)” The statement goes into detail on this domino effect, affirming that “susceptibilities and effects are matters beyond the physical amenities themselves. The real concern lies in the significance of services that the infrastructures offer, where the factual outcomes of impacts and interruptions comprise not only the expenses coupled with the repair, clean-up, and/or substitution of the concerned infrastructures but also social, economic and environmental outcomes as economic activities are interrupted, supply chains are disturbed, and/or social security is endangered.” Cyberspace deals with related challenges. (Pătraşcu, 144-163) research on Internet Security tackles the susceptibilities of the old-fashioned infrastructure of the cyberspace by documenting that “network protocols that were initially used but are still part of the World Wide Web were not created with security attributes that would handle threats that emerge now. Fundamentally, this renders the basic internet infrastructure essentially insecure.” Not long ago, the internet critical infrastructure has continually suffered boundless pressure because of the colossal quantity of cybercrimes and risks. To respond, the Executive Order 13636, issued by President Obama detailed that any damage of that nature to cyber infrastructure "would encompass an unbearable influence on security, nationwide public health or wellbeing, countrywide financial security, or any blend of those concerns.” Further, (Allen, 50) notes that “the internet is vital for social and economic growth and the country is reaching a point whereby cybercrimes could damage the internet infrastructure.” Climate change and threats to cybersecurity normally have an impact on similar critical infrastructures, for instance, the electricity grid. (Stapleton, 174-192) confirms that there are mounting cyber threats to the electricity grid in North America, making electricity grid cyber security more and more significant to the national and international community” They also found out that large areas in America, case in point, the Midwest are susceptible to the adverse outcomes of climate change on the power grid.
How cyberspace and climate change are related may seem worlds apart but in actual sense, they have a lot of resemblances. Even if, the variables influencing the cyberspace and the climate are dissimilar, the dangers accompanying them both are anthropogenic and could impact the same crucial parities, for example, food, water, and energy infrastructures. Building up threat alleviation policies that own up to these similarities, and urging cross-pollination in these strategic sectors, are hence vital initial stages for guaranteeing a cyber and climate-secure future. Climate change is a huge challenge in this century. Countries and organizations both in America and globally strive to control the continuing course to environmental ruin. The major challenge that the technology industry faces is to decrease the emissions of gas from transport into the atmosphere. They try to create ‘Walkable Cities’ and cyber security can take part in that. Information technology plays a big role in obtaining the solution to that crisis. For instance, the industry has manufactured self-driving cars that save energy, buses, and metros which make public transport cheaper and reduce the number of personal cars on the road which means reduced gas emissions. However, these amenities can be hacked. Smart aides by use of Artificial Intelligence that help plan an individual’s day, travel, and choice optimization with respect to environmental impression is available but they too can be hacked, thus rescinding all confidence of privacy protection. Telework reduces the need to physically go to work, and travel for business. They offer privacy and reliability, and people should invest more in communication and system access, to reduce motor travel. Cloud services make working together from different locations simpler. Cloud services need data hubs. Data centers can be replicated to another hub if it is not working properly, therefore, information is easier to work with and store. Normally, when the consistency of a data hub is not rather up to prospects, the standard resolution is to duplicate the whole thing in another data hub, or maybe the customers duplicate everything in their own data hubs or perhaps reflecting it to another cloud service provider. That process may be unnecessary if the consistency is excellent with the first provider – specifically, the competence to tackle DDoS attacks. Creating dependable data hubs is, thus, part of the solution to climate change, to add to running data hubs with effective cooling systems and green energy. DDoS is a climate problem. Cybercriminals need botnets to carry out far-reaching DDoS attacks. By infecting workstations, IoT devices, phones, and laptops, with viruses, they get botnets. Hence, endpoint security too is a climate subject. Ensuring functional security management contributes to protecting the environment. So as you choose a bus over a car, you can also conserve the environment by reinforcing your private devices’ security.
To beef up the security of devices, ensure to cover cell phones, routers, smart home solutions, laptops, alarm systems, and Internet-connected refrigerators. Only use cloud services with good security features and privacy measures. Use consumer power to demand increased security from vendors, while safeguarding your personal interests. By doing this, security will be optimal, which in turn supports enhanced consumption, transport, and communications. Concentrate on safe, efficient, and protected telework. Also, use VPN whenever you are using the internet in public places like coffee shops, and support the “local work global impact” culture. The ability to avoid unnecessary travel, whether over a short or long distance has an impact on climate. Technological innovations can certainly play a huge role and be offering suitable cyber security and because of that, technology is vital to security. Be it carbon neutrality (as pledged by London and NYC’s to reduce carbon emission levels by 80% by 2050), energy efficiency, renewable energy, smart buildings, and smart transportation, the role is significant, and everything needs to be provided in a secure way. As the discussion at the forums goes on, yet another connection between the global warming conversation and smart city cybersecurity materializes. Both smart cities and climate change have a requirement for integration. People should look for the ultimate solution that will decipher the setback, renewables and enhanced building stock. However, to be real, it will require a lot of effort for that need for integration to be achieved. That same aspect is precisely correct for fortifying smart infrastructure. Normally, we get questioned on what single technology ought to be installed and the response is normally way too intricate. Security has to be fabricated in, and in this age of the Internet of Things, it is for the most part imperative that the reliability of gadgets and information be guaranteed from the instant a system is set up. Security put up into the hardware (identity, secure boot, trusted execution environments, secure storage) may be introductory, nonetheless, we need protected infrastructure and network security in the cloud. The installed security all have to work hand in hand. That is, carbon neutral, smart, safe and connected.
In conclusion, cybersecurity and conserving the environment have to be integrated at all times for a better future. They are two issues that affect every country in the same way and countries should pool their resources to tackle these threats as they affect national security, social security, food availability and public health.
