Phishing Attack: Raising Awareness and Protection Techniques

Phishing is a form of social engineering attack that can be used to steal sensitive and vital information and details from unsuspecting entities which could either be organizations or individuals. This paper gives a review on how phishing attacks are carried out and the protection techniques involved in defending against such attacks and how to raise awareness about such attacks in Bournemouth University using the MINDSPACE framework. The protection techniques would be classified into three layers namely; automated tools, training and knowledge, and multifactor authentication. The awareness would be raised using the MINDSPACE framework and it revealed that about 50% of the students approached were ignorant of the phishing attack and the tactics used to carry the attack out.

The effect of ISO/IEC 27001 standard over open-source intelligence

The Internet’s emergence as a global communication medium has dramatically expanded the volume of content that is freely accessible. Through using this information, open-source intelligence (OSINT) seeks to meet basic intelligence requirements. Although open-source information has historically been synonymous with strategic intelligence, today’s consumers range from governments to corporations to everyday people. This paper aimed to describe open-source intelligence and to show how to use a few OSINT resources. In this article, OSINT (a combination of public information, social engineering, open-source information, and internet information) was examined to define the present situation further, and suggestions were made as to what could happen in the future. OSINT is gaining prominence, and its application is spreading into different areas. The primary difficulty with OSINT is separating relevant bits from large volumes of details. Thus, this paper proposed and illustrated three OSINT alternatives, demonstrating their existence and distinguishing characteristics. The solution analysis took the form of a presentation evaluation, during which the usage and effects of selected OSINT solutions were reported and observed. The paper’s results demonstrate the breadth and dispersion of OSINT solutions. The mechanism by which OSINT data searches are returned varies greatly between solutions. Combining data from numerous OSINT solutions to produce a detailed summary and interpretation involves work and the use of multiple disjointed solutions, both of which are manual. Visualization of results is anticipated to be a potential theme in the production of OSINT solutions. Individuals’ data search and analysis abilities are another trend worth following, whether to optimize the productivity of currently accessible OSINT solutions or to create more advanced OSINT solutions in the future.

Shaping “New Man”, Reconstructing “New Woman”: A Return to Albanian Totalitarian Socialist Past

The totalitarian socialist regime, which was installed in Albania in 1945, lasting until 1990, was expressed and articulated as a consistent effort led to modernism or civilization, as a kind of “social engineering” incarnated to the inner individual and society dimensions. Fighting old and traditional mentality, the totalitarian socialist countries created the infrastructure for spreading the model of the “new man” according to new principles, aiming to make everyday life productive and disciplined. Under the implementation of the “new man” approach, especially the image of woman was reconstructed. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the ideal of the “new man” and “new woman” were socially constructed and how they have influenced the everyday life of people, under the totalitarian socialist regime, referring to the case of the Albania. 18 in depth semi structured interviews with woman and men from 55 until 85 years old have been conducted and the poetry and text songs of that time have been explored. The research showed that through the trinomen “education-work-tempering”, the “new man” and “new woman” was socially constructed. People’s social status, during the socialist regime in Albania influences their perceptions and their attachment to the “new man” and “new woman” portraits Received: 4 September 2021 / Accepted: 15 November 2021 / Published: 3 January 2022

CRIMES ASSOCIATED WITH THE USE OF ELECTRONIC PAYMENT MEANS: METHODS AND TRACE INFORMATION

The results of a forensic analysis of typical methods of committing crimes involving the use of electronic payment methods are presented. It is shown that the basis of this criminal activity are the methods of social engineering based on the application of the achievements of modern information and communication technologies, as well as on actions and approaches through which offenders gain unauthorized access to the personal data of the victim. Taking into account the study of the stages of the mechanism of the considered criminal acts, the sources of trace information are formulated, reflecting the processes of interaction of participants in a criminal event with each other and with the environment.

Social Research Methods in Cybersecurity

The application of social research methods in cybersecurity requires a multidisciplinary combination since the security of technologies and communication networks is made up of a set of uses, techniques, and results directly conditioned by the parameters of confidentiality, data availability, integrity, and privacy. However, each of these technological concepts is prepared and subject to conditions of use that involve ethical, sociological, economic, and legal aspects. Firstly, social engineering techniques in cybercrime tend to combine social investigation techniques with computational engineering and telecommunications elements. Secondly, research on cybersecurity phenomena in industrial environments implies the adaptation to the organizational specificity of each sector. In this chapter, the social research topics commonly addressed by leading companies and researchers in cybersecurity at a global level are analyzed from a comparative point of view, extracting a taxonomy of social research on cybersecurity.

Individual Deep Fake Recognition Skills are Affected by Viewers’ Political Orientation, Agreement with Content and Device Used

AI-generated “deep fakes” are becoming increasingly professional and can be expected to become an essential tool for cybercriminals conducting targeted and tailored social engineering attacks, as well as for others aiming for influencing public opinion in a more general sense. While the technological arms race is resulting in increasingly efficient forensic detection tools, these are unlikely to be in place and applied by common users on an everyday basis any time soon, especially if social engineering attacks are camouflaged as unsuspicious conversations. To date, most cybercriminals do not yet have the necessary resources, competencies or the required raw material featuring the target to produce perfect impersonifications. To raise awareness and efficiently train individuals in recognizing the most widespread deep fakes, the understanding of what may cause individual differences in the ability to recognize them can be central. Previous research suggested a close relationship between political attitudes and top-down perceptual and subsequent cognitive processing styles. In this study, we aimed to investigate the impact of political attitudes and agreement with the political message content on the individual’s deep fake recognition skills.In this study, 163 adults (72 females = 44.2%) judged a series of video clips with politicians’ statements across the political spectrum regarding their authenticity and their agreement with the message that was transported. Half of the presented videos were fabricated via lip-sync technology. In addition to the particular agreement to each statement made, more global political attitudes towards social and economic topics were assessed via the Social and Economic Conservatism Scale (SECS).Data analysis revealed robust negative associations between participants’ general and in particular social conservatism and their ability to recognize fabricated videos. This effect was pronounced where there was a specific agreement with the message content. Deep fakes watched on mobile phones and tablets were considerably less likely to be recognized as such compared to when watched on stationary computers.To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate and establish the association between political attitudes and interindividual differences in deep fake recognition. The study further supports very recently published research suggesting relationships between conservatism and perceived credibility of conspiracy theories and fake news in general. Implications for further research on psychological mechanisms underlying this effect are discussed.

Communication regimes in Central Asian countries: a scientific discussion

The article contains the main ideas expressed by Russian and foreign participants in the international scientific discussion on the topic «Communication regimes in Central Asian countries». The discussion was held by National Research Institute for Communications Development. Studies of communication regimes conducted on the basis of the author’s methodology revealed: (1) asymmetry of actor models of communication regimes in Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan); (2) pronounced etatism and policy of state regulation and control of processes and structures of public communication; (3) specifics of social engineering of communication regimes based on securitization of issues of ethnic cultural and national identity; (4) attempts to update communication regimes that have not yet attained serious success. In the course of discussions, scientists from Central Asian countries offered their research materials and keynoted: the role of cultural and religious factors in the formation of communication regimes; the influence of the financial basis of mass media on their structure and media discourse; frequent borrowings of the content from foreign information channels. Russian experts noted: artificially accentuated problems of «historical trauma» in the information space in the Central Asian countries; changes in communication formats within the context of COVID-19; the importance of studying communication regimes in the context of ensuring collective information security, the need to develop common terms and concepts for Russia and Central Asian countries in the drawing up the legislation on communication and information.

Problematic of ideological formation in Kazakhstan: three-dimensional practice of the Muftiate as an ideological state apparatus (an Althusserian analysis)

Purpose In the Kazakhstani context, the instrumentalization of the Muftiate as a social engineering tool is particularly pertinent, as it stands out as a unique channel for the political, moral and cultural shaping of Muslims. This study aims to outline the role of the Muftiate, its historical background and recent restructuring process. It focuses on the ideological practices and religious discourses of the Muftiate. Design/methodology/approach In Kazakhstan, as a result of reforms in the religious sphere, which were started in 2011, the scope of activity of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan (the Muftiate) has entered a new phase and become an important ideological tool within national policy. It has emerged as a civil society institution that will centralize the process of Islamization and instrumentalize the importance of Islam to create a new fantasy of unity and solidarity. Findings Thus, it discusses how Muftiate fabricates the correct forms of action and the correct form of thought. The theory of “ideological state apparatuses” (ISA) of the French philosopher Louis Althusser should be considered as a theoretical framework of this study. This approach not only gives a theoretical definition of the Muftiate but also allows us to determine its position in society and outline three different dimensions of the practice that it performs. Originality/value The study demonstrates how the Muftiate as an ISA actualizes various concepts, ideas, beliefs or images in which Muslims live their imaginary relations to the real world and transforms Muslim individuals into ideological subjects, thus enabling them to become apparently free bearers of the ideology.