Intelligence Futures Working Group

08/14/2020

President Trump's Executive Orders threaten to undermine US Soft power and global digital economy at a time when the world can least afford it. from The SecDev Group https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/14/trump-bans-tiktok-wechat-open-internet/

Trump’s new restrictions on Chinese apps and technology are so far-reaching that the future of the open internet is at stake.

08/10/2020

From the The SecDev Group - Special dispatch: "Is this how it ends? President Trump’s executive orders are rewriting the rules of the Internet. What comes next?" The White House's latest salvo of executive orders targeting Chinese tech companies could rewrite the rules of the internet. While launched to shore-up a flagging electoral campaign, they could undermine a free and open internet, strengthen the hand of authoritarian governments, and unravel economic inter-dependencies that powered the most successful half century in human history. https://mailchi.mp/secdev/secdev-special-dispatch-august-2020?fbclid=IwAR2yGwTEQYzICmIx-Bb4bEqStn_kSz4Gpi0K3Gyuq-_dbMPmOI_7DghE5tg

06/18/2018

Global megacities are the dynamo of development in the 21st century. The vast majority of cities over 20 million are in Asia and Africa. The future prosperity's of these emerging urban digital economies depends on good governance, investing in informer policymaking, and making cities not just "smarter" but also more attuned to the needs of populations. As part of our "Scotch and Cyber" series, will be drawing upon the expertise of The SecDev Group Principals John De Boer and Rob Muggah to explore the past, present, and future of # agile security in the urban century.

A new groundbreaking book edited by Secdev Managing Director John De Boer looks at the causes and solutions for urban violence. Drawing from more than five years of research across 14 programs, the study looks at the dynamics of insecurity and megacities. Cities are the dynamo growth in the 21st century. Building prosperous, safe cities by addressing the links between urban violence, poverty, and inequality - are the key to unlocking digital opportunities.

Download A free PDF version of the book
https://idl-bnc-idrc.dspacedirect.org/bitstream/handle/10625/56926/IDL-56926.pdf

or order it on-line:
https://www.routledge.com/Social-Theories-of-Urban-Violence-in-the-Global-South-Towards-Safe-and/Salahub-Gottsbacher-de-Boer/p/book/9780815368397

06/15/2018

Canada just released its updated National Cybersecurity Strategy. How will the new policies proposed announced by the government impact on Canada’s ability to compete in the global Digital Economy? Are Canadian safe - Does more need to be done? The Intelligence Futures Working Group is pleased to announce a new series of working group seminars - “Scotch and Cyber” - that will examine Canada’s approach to cyber security and the emerging global digital economy. Stay tuned for more details!

06/15/2018

Virtually everything Canadians do is touched by technology in some way – on a per capita basis, we spend the most time online of any country in the world, at 43.5 hours per Canadian per month. We are heavily inter-connected and networked, a fact that enhances our quality of life, but also creates ...

06/06/2018

Latest article from The SecDev Group Principals and Rob Muggah... Just in time for Canada hosting of the G7

“Today’s armed conflicts also make conflict prevention more challenging. This is because armed conflict and terrorism are transforming. Risks of conflict are converging."

After the bloodiest century in recorded history, there were hopes that the twenty-first century would usher in a new era of peace. There were some grounds for optimism. After the number of armed conflicts peaked at 52 in 1991, they dropped off significantly to 32 by 2003. The prevalence of conflict....

05/17/2018

The latest on the Syrian government's elite cyber force from SecDev Foundation.

Once responsible for Assad’s offensive cyber operations, the Syrian Electronic Army is back. Its new mission, to reconquer Syrian cyberspace for the regime, may prove impossible.

04/07/2018

The Department of Homeland Security wants to compile a database to monitor hundreds of thousands of news outlets and journalists around the world. Bloomberg Law reports that DHS is looking for a contractor to help build the database and keep track of more than 290,000 news sources, collecting data a...

04/07/2018

03/06/2018

Well worth reading... as a warning of what happens when we begin to substitute “belief” for intelligence ...

I was the first to write about Russia’s infamous high-tech military strategy. One small problem: it doesn't exist.

12/16/2017

The question of the growing entanglement between nuclear stability and cyberstability will be covered by a session planned for the Intelligence Futures Working Group early in the new year.

As the nuclear and digital worlds rise together, they converge and entangle. And this reality gives rise to new risks

06/18/2017

Secdev CEO interviewed by CBC on Canada's Defence Policy Review, and what it says about cyber warfare capabilities.

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/politics/cyber-weapons-canada-1.4164696

If it hasn't already, the Canadian military will have to develop its own cyber weapons. The country's new defence policy gives the Forces the green light to conduct offensive operations against online adversaries. But an expert warns careful thought will have to be used if and or when they are emplo...