There are many security issues that the world will have to face as a global community, from drug trafficking to the proliferation and possession of weapons of mass destruction, as well as delivery of systems, constitutes the most salient risks that menace international peace and security in the 21st century.
However, I would like to elaborate on a few and the most obvious and talked about security issues: Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), Organised Crimes and Cyber Crimes.
Terrorism is defined as an act of violence to spread fear to support an ideological goal. It’s something that most of us are aware of, because it is one of the most talked-about security issues in this world.
Terrorist groups are not formally affiliated with a specific nation. This means that they can be very hard to track down, are able to act without fear of national laws, and often play off the tensions of various foreign nations. Modern terrorist organizations are mostly centered around the Middle East, and nations there are the ones most at risk. However, terrorist groups have introduced significant threats around the world by exploiting security gaps. Nations in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas, including the United States, have all been victims of terrorist attacks.
While terrorism is an alarming threat, it is not the only threat. Another major issue that has become a recent source of controversy is the possession of nuclear weapons. During the Cold War of the 20th century, the world came close to complete nuclear war. Since then, many nations have been concerned with limiting the potential for nuclear devastation. Most major powers, including both the United States and Russia, have committed to stop testing nuclear weapons.
However, everyone is reluctant to get rid of their weapons in case somebody else declares war. So far, South Africa is the only known nation to completely disarm its nuclear weapons. To make the matters more complicated, potentially aggressive nations, like North Korea, have expressed a commitment to continue making nuclear weapons, and Iran has expressed a strong desire to develop a nuclear program to ensure its own safety.
Organized crime is a complex concept that is difficult to grasp and lends itself to many definitions, legal, “criminological” or sociological. The International Secretariat of INTERPOL defined organized crime, at the International Colloquium on Organized Crime held in Saint-Cloud in May 1988, as “any association or group of persons engaging in a continuing illegal activity whose (aim) is to make profits without regard for national frontiers”.
The United Nations define it as “… a structured group of three or more persons, existing for a period of time and acting in concert with the aim of committing one or more serious crimes or offences, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit.” (UN Convention against Trans-national Organized Crime signed in Palermo in December 2000).
There are also individual criminals working in networks operating in both the legitimate and illegitimate marketplaces. Their activities may be global but their effect is often local. Organized crime is manifest and develops in many areas, including: illegal drug production and trafficking; economic / financial fraud, including money laundering; illegal arms trade; Maritime piracy; Cyber-crime; Environment-related crime, in particular toxic waste dumping; Traffic of organs.
Organized crime has grown considerably during the past decade, both in quantity (increased acts of violence and intimidation, cases of fraud and corruption, illegal trafficking and recycling of its products, etc.) and quality (professional, rational and international networks). It has benefited greatly from the globalization of trade and finance, as well as from the mobility of persons and property, the development of instantaneous communication, the new interdependence of nations, the opening up, not to say abandonment, of national frontiers and a measure of loss of sovereignty of States over their own territory. Organized crime is far from being homogeneous. Each country or region has differing concerns, which may depend on the local “consumer needs”, criminal traditions, political systems and social attitudes towards crime.
Cyber security challenges are growing along with the expansion of the internet — actually, the hacking world is growing faster. Cyber security involves protecting information and systems from major cyber threats. These threats take many forms. As a result, keeping pace with cyber security strategy and operations can be a challenge, particularly in government and enterprise networks where, in their most innovative form, cyber threats often take aim at secret, political and military assets of a nation, or its people. The present cyber security market offers an opportunity to stakeholders largely because of a surge in cloud-based services and the increased use of the internet for online financial transactions.
Not all global security threats involve the potential end of humanity. One of the other major concerns for modern nations is a growing culture of social unrest around the world. In some places, such as Hong Kong and Brazil, this has meant massive protests against the government. In several Arab and African nations, massive protests and revolutions overturned governments during 2010 and 2011. Protests in Europe (Belarus), the United States, and Mexico, as well as significantly decreased voter turnout, have indicated a growing attitude that governments are not meeting the needs of the people. There is a general concern among world leaders that unless something changes, rebellions could become a major trend in the near future.
Conclusion
History proves that many security threats would never have grown into a fully-fledged problem, if they had been identified and addressed at an earlier stage.
It is vital to identify potential scenarios where terrorism, insurgency, organized crime, arm proliferation or cyber-attacks could evolve from being abstract and hypothetical menaces into posing real and severe problems — and seeking tangible solutions for prevention.
Thank you
By: James Kweku Ahinasi-Blondy
#Cybersecurity #informationsecurity #Personalsecurity
