Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

2021

Publication Title

16th International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security: ICCWS 2021: A Virtual Conference Hosted by Tennesseee Tech University and the Oak Ridge

Pages

291-298

Conference Name

16th International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security: ICCWS 2021, Cooksville, Tenessee, 25-26 February 2021

Abstract

Biodefense is the discipline of ensuring biosecurity with respect to select groups of organisms and limiting their spread. This field has increasingly been challenged by novel threats from nature that have been weaponized such as SARS, Anthrax, and similar pathogens, but has emerged victorious through collaboration of national and world health groups. However, it may come under additional stress in the 21st century as the field intersects with the cyberworld-- a world where governments have already been struggling to keep up with cyber attacks from small to state-level actors as cyberthreats have been relied on to level the playing field in international disputes. Disruptions to military logistics and economies and moral costs through conventional military means, making it an increasingly tempting means of disruption. In the field of biocybersecurity (BCS), the strengths within biotechnology and cybersecurity merge, along with many of their vulnerabilities, and this could spell increased trouble for biodefense, as novel threats can be synthesized and disseminated in ways that fuse the routes of attacks seen in biosecurity and cybersecurity. Herein, we offer an exploration of how threats in the domain of biocybersecurity may emerge through less forseen routes as it might be an attractive auxilliary to conventional war. This is done through an analysis of potential payload and delivery methods to develop notional threat vectorizations. We conclude with several paradigms through which to view BCS-based threats.

Rights

© 2021 The Authors. All rights reserved.

Included with the kind written permission of the authors.

Original Publication Citation

Potter, L., Ayala, O., & Palmer, X.-L. (2021). Biocybersecurity: A converging threat as an auxiliary to war. In J. Lopez, Jr., A. Siraj, & K. Perumalla (Eds.), 16th International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security: ICCWS 2021: A Virtual Conference Hosted by Tennesseee Tech University and the Oak Ridge (pp. 291-298). Academic Conferences International Limited.

ORCID

0000-0002-1289-5302 (Palmer)

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