Predicting Malicious Behavior: Tools and Techniques for Ensuring Global Security

Chapter 4

Threats and Security Nightmares: Our Current Reactive State of Security

This chapter focuses on the current threats we face within the United States and the difficulty facing security on a daily basis in ensuring our safety. As a country, we face a relatively high degree of threat from a wide variety of sources. Such threat emanates from a massive amount of violent crime, gangs, murders, and shootings. We see killings in the streets, schools, malls, and workplaces. However, not all threat is violent. We now face an unprecedented threat from cyber assault. We are now a computer-based society, and we are no stranger to viruses, identity theft, cyber stalking, and stolen credit card numbers. Our businesses are attacked daily, and there are diligent and successful efforts to invade our government, military, and corporate computers to steal classified and proprietary information. Threat is everywhere, and we have to learn better how to move beyond a reactive stance to proactive protection.

The threat we face is not random. It occurs for a reason. Using behavior analysis methods as presented in this book, whether manual or automated, we may be able to accurately anticipate events born from current threat. Such anticipation is absolutely necessary if security resources and policies are to be more effective. Security, as a discipline, cannot be everywhere and do everything. By accurately anticipating threatening events of concern, security resources may be more efficiently used ...