The Foreign Exchange Policy of China – Is the Country a “Currency Manipulator”?

Author(s): Paskal Zhelev / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

China’s exchange rate policy has been one of the most contentious economic issues in present times. The large open economy with a state-led development model has been often accused of deliberately keeping its currency undervalued, thereby conferring unfair competitive advantagesto its exporters, and fuelling global imbalances. The experts’ opinions on that however are greatly divided. The paper’s main goal is to evaluate whether China has been manipulatingthe exchange rate of the RMB through its exchange rate policy over the last decade. Based on various indicators, the results show that there is no evidence of China engaging in currency manipulation to the detriment of its trading partners.

INFLUENCE OF CYBER THREATS ON THE AIR FORCE COMMAND AND CONTROL SYSTEM

Author(s): Vasile-Cristian Onesimiuc,Sorin Topor / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Cyber threats are found in all domains, both civil, and military, but their effects are more important for the Air Forces. Cyber threats have dual functions, that is, as expected, they can have negative effects, but, surprisingly, Air Forces could use the negative effects of cyber threats for the support of its own missions. From the cyber security point of view, being aware of its own limitations as well as those of the adversary’s is never completed, but it represents one of the elements that can bring about the success for the Air Forces mission, whichever that may be: defending its own capabilities or attacking the enemy. The only certainty within this process is the increase in future influence over the Air Force actions.

DESIGNING CYBERSECURITY SOLUTION USING BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

Author(s): Adriana Meda Udroiu / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

In this paper we aim to analyse the impact of Blockchain technology in the current context of cyber-security, especially in the area of smart cities and financial transactions. For this, we will first describe the current state of cyber-security and the problems it faces. Because blockchain technology only addresses part of the cyber-security matters, we will explain the response of this technology to each of the domain-specific issues. It is equally well-known that blockchain technology is the basis of many current applications (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric). For smart cities, blockchain technology is used in designing cybersecurity for traffic control, financial transaction between organisation and authorities and so on.

EU Global Leadership in Trustworthy AI: High Risk Applications – Implementation and Gabs

Author(s): Galya Mancheva / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The paper is devoted to the European Union regulatory framework on Artificial Intelligence related to SME and the EU global position in this aspect. The objective is to follow up the readiness of the EU to have a global leadership in trustworthy AI. The thesis of the study is that the EU is not ready to have a global leadership in trustworthy AI. For the purposes of the analysis firstly the position of the EU globally is observed within the global trends in Artificial intelligence. Secondly, content analysis and cross-check of current the EU regulatory framework and legislation is performed in order to investigate the main raised issues and their stage of completion. It was found that the main unsolved and unregulated issues are related to adaptation of current legislation of national AI strategies and new and adapted liability rules to be established. As of the national AI strategies a total of 19 Member States, including Norway have adopted national AI strategies. Some Member States (e.g. Finland, Cyprus and Germany), have already updated and reviewed their initial strategies. Forthcoming national action have to be taken by Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Romania, and Slovenia. As of the new and adapted liability rules, it is postponed to the end of 2022 the EU to measure adapting the liability framework to the challenges of new technologies, including AI. As per global trends, the inconsistency of the EU members will prolong the process of implementation the legislation and achieving the main EU goal to have a global leadership in trustworthy AI.

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF TERRORISM

Author(s): Luiza-Andreea ULMET,Ivona RĂPAN,Cornelia-Rodica JUDE,Loredana Larisa VĂDUVA / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Terrorism is one of the main dangers facing democratic states today. The effects of terrorist activities and their economic impact on society are very difficult to determine, but in the following, we will try to understand and analyses the main dangers to which states are exposed and the countermeasures carried out by the main states facing this scourge. At the same time, we will try in the analysis carried out in this article to establish the future measures to be taken so that the objectives of terrorist organizations, those of implicitly affecting the targeted countries economically, do not lead to the desired results.

An Overview of RPL Networks from the Viewpoint of Cybersecurity

Author(s): Cosmina STALIDI,Eduard-Cristian POPOVICI,George SUCIU / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

In the past decade, the Internet of Things (IoT) has had a significant impact on a global scale. The Internet of Things (IoT) has facilitated the interconnection of a vast number of devices in contemporary times. The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices underscores the importance of ensuring robust security measures to safeguard against potential threats. The RPL protocol has been specifically designed for routing purposes within the context of IoT devices, operating at the network layer. The exploitation of the RPL protocol poses a threat to IoT networks and has the potential to substantially affect network performance. This article introduces the STACK project, which aims to improve IoT transmission capabilities, identify and mitigate attacks using performance and interference monitoring, and use methods tightly integrated with an intelligent edge.

Vulnerability Scanner: Web-based Security Testing

Author(s): Andrei-Daniel ANDRONESCU,Ioana-Ilona BRĂSLAȘU,Dumitru-Iulian NĂSTAC / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

As the use of internet-based software increased, cybersecurity has emerged as a major issue in the current world. The fast-paced technology innovations allowed most companies to scale their business, consumers to access easier their favorite products, thus increasing the reliance on web-based software. The importance of web security cannot be emphasized given the increase in cybercrime and the damage it poses to businesses, people, and governments. This paper proposes an automated solution capable of detecting and exploiting common vulnerabilities found on web-based software, this being done without performing any malicious intended operations. By using software capable of automatically detecting the means a client could communicate with a server, users can ensure that a thorough verification is done on their web-applications, revealing the blind spots that developers may have overlook.

Countering Daesh Cognitive and Cyber Warfare with OSINT and Basic Data Mining Tools

Author(s): Gianluigi ME,Maria Felicita MUCCI / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Digital civilization has changed war circumstances. Emerging dangers have asymmetry, variety, and continual change; quick transmission through the network; near-immediacy; possibility for unrestricted access; and swift power to affect people’s behavior. Cognitive Warfare, an international relations issue, uses information, cyber, and psychological warfare tactics. Daesh sends threatening messages to Western countries and spreads internet propaganda to recruit new members and induce terror. The study attempts to propose a novel knowledge-based approach for detecting terrorists by examining data obtained from Twitter and leading Daesh publications, through Data Mining techniques.

ChatGPT - Information Security Overview

Author(s): Gabriela TOD-RĂILEANU,Sabina-Daniela AXINTE / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

About one hundred years ago humanity experienced a substantial change when we embraced the use of electricity in our homes and daily lives. Now, humanity is changing once again by adopting the use of artificial intelligence on a larger scale. Expressing concerns about the next industrial revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. ChatGPT has become so popular in the last months that a lot of technical or not so technical people have used it and integrated in their daily work to complete tasks faster and more efficient, but this article will highlight the abuse of chatGPT by the people that do not have always good intentions - threat actors. This article is approaching the Information Security risks that have appeared with the use of chatGPT by the employees that are not aware about the threats or even the use of chatGPT by the threat actors that are aware and ready to abuse its computational power.

Artificial News Popularity Detection Based on Telegram Channels in Azerbaijan

Author(s): Davud RUSTAMOV,Jalal RASULZADE,Shamsaddin HUSEYNOV / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

With the exponential growth of digital media, readers face a daunting task of sifting through vast amounts of information to identify important news. This problem is especially critical for media professionals, journalists, and news agencies who need to quickly filter news articles to identify relevant and significant stories. Machine learning models offer a promising solution by automatically classifying news articles based on their significance. In this paper, we propose novel machine learning models for news significance detection, leveraging state-of-the-art deep learning architectures and a dataset of news articles. We evaluate our models using a variety of performance metrics and demonstrate their effectiveness compared to existing methods. Our proposed approach has the potential to significantly improve the efficiency and accuracy of news selection, benefiting both media professionals and readers alike. Furthermore, it can be beneficial to forecast the popularity of fake news and prevent its dissemination in society. Approximately, 2800 Azerbaijani news articles have been collected from telegram and labeled as popular or unpopular according to statistical calculation results. For news popularity detection, application of SVM, Random Forest and Neural network models and their results have been discussed in this paper.

A Computer Abusive Access Case Study Solved with Windows Registry Analysis

Author(s): Pierluigi PERRONE,Antonio SILVESTRE,Giuseppe TARASCHI / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

This article has the aim to describe a real forensics investigation case. An employee is accused of revealing confidential company information related to a project he was working on using a company computer registered to the company domain. The accused defends himself, insinuating the doubt that it could have been anyone because his office is always open. After the seizure and acquisition of a company hard drive, the investigators want to find some evidences related the Windows system registry. In particular, the analysis will be aimed at identifying what were the energy and standby settings at the time of the seizure and if upon reactivation of the screen, the password was requested and needed to access the system.

Easy to Remember, Hard to Guess: A Password Generation Tool for the Digital Age

Author(s): Ioana-Ilona BRĂSLAȘU,Andrei-Daniel ANDRONESCU,Dumitru-Iulian NĂSTAC / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

A brute force attack is a common method used by cybercriminals to gain unauthorized access to user accounts. It is essential for individuals and organizations to take proactive measures to protect themselves from such attacks. One way to do this is by improving their knowledge of cybersecurity and implementing measures to safeguard their online presence. Using programming languages like Python and web-frameworks like Django, websites can be developed to help individuals generate secure and memorable passwords that align with the latest password security standards. This can help anyone who wants to improve their password security, irrespective of whether they have been a victim of a cyber-attack or not.

Types of Attacks and Security Methods. Virtual Machines

Author(s): Dorina-Luminiţa COPACI,Constantin-Alexandru COPACI / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Virtualization is a type of process used to create a virtual environment. Many organizations think about the security implications after implementing a new technology. Virtualization can be used in many ways and requires appropriate security controls in each situation. This paper presents the idea of using a virtual machine to share services and information over the Internet. In case of an attack, the resources of the virtual machine will be affected, while the resources of the real machine are safe. In this paper, we present the perspective of an attack by running malicious software on a virtual machine. We will show that although unauthorized control of the virtual machine is obtained, the real machine is not affected.

A Signal Theory Model for Security Monitoring using CheckMK

Author(s): Iliuță-Alexandru IONEL / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Continuous monitoring of intelligent systems is used to analyze data and text from various sources. They usually monitor things such as risk, controls, opportunities, competition, and other concerns. While there exists literature that provides information on the capabilities of this kind of system, there has been a limited theoretical development in this field. The information sources monitored by these systems provide signals related to events, activities, or issues. However, selecting the appropriate information sources is not a simple task, because it is influenced by factors such as time, cost, redundancy, reliability, or weak signals. Furthermore, for the monitored signals, it is recommended to generate some analytics to study the flow and have a traceability of the issue we are dealing with. In this paper, a signal theory model is introduced and applied to address some of these issues regarding the SSH brute-force attacks. I will use a tool called CheckMK and its capabilities to implement a signal theory model used for monitoring security of a system.

Digitalization of Finance: Effect or Cause of Programmed Chaos?

Author(s): Ruxandra RÎMNICEANU / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The actual "permacrisis" marks the five transitions that are unfolding simultaneously: a transition in the planet's climate regime, an energy transition, a geopolitical transition, a technological transition and a demographic transition. In this context, all the risks that are around show us that we are dealing with a programmed chaos that might affect the financial ecosystem, also. In this respect, such to avoid a collapse and to strengthen the banking and financial sector, the European entities appreciate that there it is necessary to strengthen the leadership of the EU in the digital domain by promoting inclusive and sustainable digital policies, serving citizens and businesses. Taking into account that the risks of increased exposure to potential cybercrime, operational resilience failures and data protection and privacy issues could have an important impact, the digital transformation must be in line with EU values - the 2030 policy program entitled "The Path to the Digital Decade" and "The Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles in the E.U.".

Guarding the Nation: A Comprehensive Look at State Cybersecurity Measure

Author(s): Marian-Emilian SPĂTARU,Alexandru BARCAN / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

In a continuously evolving world, technology has not been left out of the process which consists of studies and research done by specialists in the field of cyber technology. Although the latter has brought along benignant effects in society, it can be considered a controversial domain due to those effects that can be used against the public safety and national security. Cyber-attacks & Cyber terrorism are just two of them, usually countered by Cyber intelligence, OSINT security, Cyber risk management. These actions are coordinated by different intelligence services such as: Federal Bureau of Investigation – FBI, Romanian Intelligence Service – SRI, Federal Security Service – FSB, while they have to cooperate with civilians, due to a shortage of employees. The lack of qualified staff on the following domain: awareness of the different types of cyber-attack, such as malware, web-based attacks, phishing, web application attacks, spam, distributed denial of service (DDoS), identity theft, data breach, insider threat, botnets, physical manipulation, damage, theft and loss, information leakage, ransomware, cyber-espionage, industrial espionage and crypto jacking, reaches an amount of 7.659 officials that are needed in this area.

СВЕТОВНАТА ИКОНОМИКА – В ПРЕЛЮДИЯТА КЪМ ФУНДАМЕНТАЛНИ ПРОМЕНИ

Author(s): Dimitar M Ivanov / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

СЪЗИДАТЕЛНОТО РАЗРУШЕНИЕ В ПРОЦЕСА НА ИКОНОМИЧЕСКО РАЗВИТИЕ

Author(s): Julia Dobreva / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

RECENT AND FUTURE TRENDS IN SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING

Author(s): Eleonora Petrova Stancheva-Todorova / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Few non-mandatory standards on sustainability reporting have been developed in the last two decades as a result of few global initiatives, including the Global Reporting Initiative, the International Integrated Reporting Council, the Taskforce for Climate- Related Financial Disclosures, etc. In April 2021, the European Union updated its Non- Financial Reporting Directive. Moreover, the World Economic Forum issued its new standards on common metrics and consistent reporting for sustainable value creation. These and few other initiatives and standards currently shape the sustainability reporting landscape. But the need for harmonization of non-financial reporting is on its way to change it. The lack of one single global set of standards is challenging the standard setters, policymakers, and other stakeholders and some have already started to cooperate. In early November 2021, the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation Trustees announced the establishment of a new standard-setting board – the International Sustainability Standards Board, to meet the demand of high quality, transparent, reliable, and comparable reporting by companies on climate and other environment, social and governance (ESG) matters. Inspired by the urgency of more holistic and comprehensive corporate reporting encompassing company’s ESG metrics and disclosures, this paper aims at collecting discussions on the future of sustainability reporting through the lens of the recently identified trends in its development.

МЕЖДУНАРОДНО ПРОИЗВОДСТВО И ТРАНСНАЦИОНАЛИЗАЦИЯ

Author(s): Diana Sabotinova / Language(s): Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

The rapid growth of international production until about 2010 was driven by the underlying economics, the supportive policy environment, and enabling technological developments. Changes in direction in the same three factors caused the stagnation in international production in the 2010s. Looking ahead, the trio of technology, policy and economic considerations continues to be a helpful guide to structure the analysis of expected trends. Only the relative importance of the factors, their intensity and their detailed composition is likely to change. However, all three have arrived at critical inflection points that could fundamentally alter the configuration of international production over the next decade.