Analyze Security Concerns Worksheet
Overview: This research activity will help you use resources and databases to collect the data that you need to analyze security concerns.
There are common tactical methods used by terrorist organizations (political, religious, ethnic, and ideological). During the threat assessment process, it is important to determine which weapons and tactics a threat actor could use against a critical infrastructure sector or key asset.
The goal for this activity is to explore key resources, locate specific data, and address threat assessment questions related to each of these security concerns.
Prompt: Use the Module Three Research Activity Worksheet to complete this assignment. Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
Part One: Existence of Threat: Identify the jurisdictions (locations) where the Animal Liberation Front has conducted attacks.
Part Two
o History of Threat
Identify the total number of attacks.
Identify whether the greatest threat was from groups or lone actors.
o Describe the method of attacks.
Part Three: Intention of Threat: Choose one group and provide a specific example of how the group has demonstrated intent to threaten the United States.
Part Four: Capability of Threat: Describe the tactics used in terrorist attacks worldwide in 2015.
Part Five
o Targeting 1: Identify the top 10 target types, and identify the corresponding number of targets worldwide for 2015.
o Targeting 2: Summarize the attack types and weapons used against government targets.
Part Six: Data Breaches: On the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse Data Breaches website (https://privacyrights.org/data-breaches), conduct a cybersecurity database search for the technology company Yahoo. Identify the number of hacking attacks from 2012 to the present, and identify the largest number of records breached.
Part One: Existence of Threat
The Animal Liberation Front, within the period of 2007 to 2015 have conducted attacks in United States, different city which involve Reno, Caldwell, Astoria, Sandy, Salt Laker City, Denver, Los Angeles, and Santa Cruz. These attacks have involved incendiary weapon and have targeted businesses and educational institution.
Part Two: History of Threat
The executive summary confirms that the total number of attacks were 43 which were directed towards federal government facilities, buildings, and officials between the period 2001 and 2013. The attacks involved incidents were the weapons and harmful agent were used without consideration of harm done. Lone actors posed the greatest threat as of the forty-three attacks, thirty-five were perpetrated by lone actors.
The execution of attack involves different methods of attacks. Most common weapon is a firearm followed by incendiary device and other chemical and biological materials. These two weapons were used in almost three-quarters of all the incidents. Among the total number of incidents, the most of the offenders used one firearm while a small percentage made used of between two and four firearms. In terms of the type of firearm, more than half of the offenders with firearms brought handguns while the rest of offender brought with them long guns. In two of the incidents, the offenders were reported to have used both types of guns in the incidents.
Part Three: Intention of Threat
Al-Shabaab is a terrorist group based in Somalia, Africa, in 2015, was growing through the use of rural sections in south-central Somalia. The group was continuously, organizing, planning, raising funds, communicating, recruiting, training and the operation of ease areas which posed inadequate security, justice and governance capacity in all regions and all levels including the United States. From the recent years, Al-Shabaab terrorist group executed a deadly terrorist attack in Kenya that killed 145 Kenyans using light arms and suicide vests. The group operative has grown due to the exploitation of the porous border regions between Kenya and Somalia which enable the launch of deadly cross-border attacks and poses a dangerous terrorist to the United States.
Part Four: Capability of Threat
The tactics used in terrorist attacks worldwide in 2015 involves one or more tactics in a continuous sequence of actions. Explosives involve the most commonly used tactic at a rate of fifty-two percent, followed by armed assaults which involved firearms. For 101 unarmed assaults were the attacks focused on harming without the use of explosives and firearms. Unarmed assaults involve melee weapons and chemical weapons. Tactics that caused a smaller number of casualties were unarmed assaults and infrastructure attacks. Suicide attacks were a tactic also used which increased by 26 percent in 2015 which was 4.6 times as lethal as non-suicide attacks.
Part Five: Targeting 1
The top targets types with the corresponding number of targets worldwide for 2015 include, private citizens and property, 4514, police, 2159, business, 1149, general government, 1136, military, 715, terrorists, 447, religious institutions and figures, 394, transportation, 381, educational institution, 297 and utilities, 255.
Part Five: Targeting 2
The attack types used against government targets include bombing, explosion, armed assault, facility and infrastructure attack, unarmed assault. The weapon types used against government targets include, incendiary, firearms, explosives, bombs, dynamite, chemicals and biological.
Part Six: Data Breaches
Yahoo suffered one big data breach which was reported in 2013 to have affected 1 billion users where the login information was stolen. In 2012, two separate hackers had illegally accessed Yahoo online Infrastructure. In 2016, another hack into the company happened. In the two incidents the cybercriminals took the same kind of data. In 2017, the technology company revised the number of affected users to 3 billion accounts hacked which meant basically every Yahoo account.
References
Bąk, T. (2017, June). Manners of Performing Terrorist Attacks. In International conference KNOWLEDGE-BASED ORGANIZATION (Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 25-31). Sciendo.
Country reports on terrorism 2015. (2015). U.S. Department of State. Retrieved from https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2015//index.htm
Trautman, L. J., & Ormerod, P. C. (2016). Corporate Directors’ and Officers’ Cybersecurity Standard of Care: The Yahoo Data Breach. Am. UL Rev., 66, 1231.
Woo-suk, Y. (2020). Periodical and Spatial Differences of Terrorism Examining Global TERRORISM Database from 1970~ 2018. International journal of terrorism & national security, 5, 1-12.
