Uncategorized – Page 11 – Globalization: Are You In or Are You Out?

Intel – Global Study Reveals Businesses and Countries Vulnerable Due to Shortage of Cybersecurity Talent

Intel Security, in partnership with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, has just released Hacking the Skills Shortage, a global report outlining the talent shortage crisis impacting the cybersecurity industry across both companies and nations.

A majority of respondents (82 percent) admit to a shortage of cybersecurity skills, with 71 percent of respondents citing this shortage as responsible for direct and measurable damage to organizations whose lack of talent makes them more desirable hacking targets.

In 2015, 209,000 cybersecurity jobs went unfilled1 in the United States alone. Despite 1 in 4 respondents confirming their organizations have lost proprietary data as a result of their cybersecurity skills gap, there are no signs of this workforce shortage abating in the near-term. Respondents surveyed estimate an average of 15 percent of cybersecurity positions in their company will go unfilled by 2020. With the increase in cloud, mobile computing and the Internet of Things, as well as advanced targeted cyberattacks and cyberterrorism across the globe, the need for a stronger cybersecurity workforce is critical.

source:enpublishing.co.uk

Global organizations better prepared to predict and resist cyber attacks, but struggle to recover from them, EY survey finds

Global organizations are more confident than ever that they can predict and resist a sophisticated cyber attack, but are falling short of investments and plans to recover from a breach in today’s expanding threat landscape, according to the annual EY Global Information Security Survey (GISS), Path to cyber resilience: Sense, resist, react.

Now in its 19^th year, the survey of 1,735 organizations globally examines some of the most compelling cybersecurity issues facing businesses today in the digital ecosystem. Findings showed that half (50%) of those surveyed said they could detect a sophisticated cyber attack — the highest level of confidence since 2013 — due to investments in cyber threat intelligence to predict what they can expect from an attack, continuous monitoring mechanisms, security operations centers (SOCs) and active defense mechanisms.

57% of respondents rate business continuity and disaster recovery as a high priority, but only 39% are planning to invest more in it in the coming year

– 42% do not have an agreed communications strategy or plan in place in the event of a significant attack

– 86% say their cybersecurity function does not fully meet their organization’s needs

source:PRNewswire.com

Filling the leadership void in free trade

Sorry, But China Won’t Replace America As The Leader Of Free Trade Any Time Soon

This article explains why China won’t replace the US as the leader of free trade. I found it interesting that it’s less about how powerful China is and more about its transparency. The following point demonstrates how important foreign diplomacy is and that acting out of self-interest isn’t always really in a country’s self-interest.

“China’s exclusion from the TPP was not based on the West’s desire to thwart its rise as an economic power or to hold back its cross-border trade. The issue was, and still is, China’s objective of promoting its own self-interest at the expense of its trading partners and the greater rules-based trading system.”

For now, no one country will be the leader of free trade.

Trump suggests ignoring World Trade Organization in major policy shift

“Trump’s threatened tariffs and other trade barriers could violate WTO rules and bring blowback from other countries in the trade organization. But the agenda signals the Trump administration could simply ignore those complaints.”

As expected, Trump is threatening to pull back from international trade agreements, and has gone further in saying it might ignore the WTO. Choosing not to abide by WTO resolutions or accept its findings in disputes signals a major departure from American trade policy and could have far reaching effects. For example, other countries could decide to walk away also, or directly retaliate against US manufacturers. This seems to me like total arrogance – the Administration assumes that no global organization actually helps the US and the US is always treated unfairly on the world stage. But the WTO has ruled in favor of the US in previous disputes, and the US has used the WTO to register complaints against other countries. Ignoring the TWO could decrease our influence in the world and hurt US businesses.

Security Council, Russian Vetos, and Chemical Weapons in Syria

It seems like the NYT was listening to our class last night. An article detailing Russia and China’s Security Council veto against penalizing Syria for the use of chemical (chlorine) weapons just came out today. Nikki Haley continued her consistent rhetoric against Russia’s protection of Syria and Assad.

From Trump the Nationalist, a Trail of Global Trademarks

It seems that Trump is more close to opportunism rather than a man who really prefers anti-globalization. This article addresses to one topic I’ve been interested in for a long period. Has Trump used his influence, which might be invisible, to make a profit for his families and corporations? The answer to this question might be yes as a spectacular amount of evidence in this article. However, there is another question. How many “transactions” are legally? How many of them stand in grey area by treacherously using loopholes of the law? Is this invisible type of “money-power” transaction quite common in international society?

Climate Change and the Domino Effect of Altered Ecosystems

A recent article in the Pacific Standard reports on a study by Nature that examines how the world’s mountainous regions are warming twice as fast as other regions. This warming impacts the chemistry of soil and creates a domino effect through these regions’ ecosystems. Certain plants will be able to grow at higher altitudes, while displacing others and effecting the animals that rely on the current ecosystems. This in turn effects pollination and ultimately agriculture and food supplies. This dramatic warming is fairly universal- from the mountains in Japan-to British Columbia and Europe. The effects of global warming are entwined and will impact not only the environment, but humanitarian issues as well stemming from food supply and agriculture.

Customs unions

Customs unions: Two or more countries decide not to impose tariffs on each other’s goods and agree to impose common external tariffs on goods from countries outside their customs union. Setting common external tariffs is what makes a customs union different from a free trade area. This article explains more.

Britain could use Turkey as a model for post-Brexit trade agreements because they have a customs union with the EU. Sir Andrew Cahn, the former chief executive of UK Trade and Investment explains what that could look like.

China and North Korea Reveal Sudden, and Deep, Cracks in Their Friendship

As Sarah kindly shared, China suspended coal imports from North Korea, which is expected to a blow to the North Korean economy as China accounts for 90% of their trade and coal is their number one export and accounts for 35% of their economy. This is a sign of China and North Korea’s deteriorating relationship, which previously was viewed as a strong alliance. In response to the suspension of coal imports, North Korea use strong language saying that China has “mean behavior” and “dancing to the tune of the U.S.” Many experts are shocked by the Chinese taking strong action to further the U.N sanctions and North Korea’s retaliatory speech. It seems now that even with stronger sanctions by their primary ally that North Korea will be difficult to stop.

As Yan Xuetong, the director of the Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University puts it, “In terms of diplomacy, I see no solution…China had no choice but to accept the North as a nuclear-armed state. That was because China had only two options: either a nuclear North Korea that was friendly toward China or a nuclear North Korea that was unfriendly.”

It seems like the United States and the rest of world who never had friendly relationships with North Korea might be left with only one option, a nuclear-armed North Korea and that might restart or already restarting a nuclear arms race. Which entity, international organization or country will be able to stop it?

The UN Refugee Agency

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) provides some startling facts and figures on their website about the global refugee crisis. The most recent data available shows 65.3 million people displaced. More than than half of the refugees in the world come from three countries – Somalia, Afghanistan and Syria.

The work of the UNHCR requires the collaboration and cooperation of the international community in order to help millions of refugees worldwide. Eighty-six percent of the agency’s funding comes from governments and the European Union. Recent actions by governments and leaders, including Trump and his immigration ban, are only further provoking the humanitarian crisis and preventing much needed aid and relief to refugees.