Cybersecurity Challenges for the Elderly: Vulnerabilities and Risks

Blockchain technology (BCT) is an emerging technology. Cybersecurity challenges in BCT are being explored to add greater value to business processes and reshape business operations. This scoping review paper was aimed at exploring the current literature’s scope and categorizing various types of cybersecurity challenges in BCT. Databases such as Elsevier, ResearchGate, IEEE, ScienceDirect, and ABI/INFORM Collection (ProQuest) were searched using a combination of terms, and after rigorous screening, 51 research studies were found relevant. Data coding was performed following a framework proposed for scoping review. After careful analysis, thirty different types of cybersecurity challenges in BCT were categorized into six standardized classes. Our results show that most of the studies disclose cybersecurity challenges in BCT generally without pointing to any specific industry sector, and to a very little extent, few papers reveal cybersecurity challenges in BCT related to specific industry sectors. Also, prior studies barely investigated the strategies to minimize cybersecurity challenges in BCT. Based on gap identification, future research avenues were proposed for scholars.

Recent crises have significantly amplified cybersecurity challenges. Numerous studies have identified these challenges during major crises; however, empirical investigations using a sociotechnical systems (STS) theoretical perspective remain limited. Against this backdrop, this research study examines and categorizes cybersecurity challenges in the Higher Education and Research Sector (HERS) through the lens of STS theory. Utilizing a qualitative methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with cybersecurity experts and top managers. This study proposes an STS cybersecurity framework, classifying challenges into five subsystems: social, technical, political, economic, and environmental. This framework expands on previous literature by incorporating factors often overlooked, such as cybersecurity challenges arising from internal and external environmental conditions, legal and regulatory political factors, and national and global economic factors. This research provides valuable theoretical and practical insights applicable beyond the context of the recent crisis.

Cybersecurity is an urgent concern for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Uganda, driven by the rapid digital transformation of businesses and increasing dependence on online platforms. This study explores Ugandan SMEs' cybersecurity challenges, highlighting prevalent cyber threats, risk exposure, and a cyber maturity typology to mitigate cybercrime effectively. Using a qualitative, descriptive research design based on secondary data and a literature review, the study examines how Digital, Blended, and Traditional Business Models influence SMEs' cybersecurity preparedness. A key contribution of this research is the development of a context-sensitive typology of SME cyber maturity, which categorises businesses as Traditional, Transitioning, Digitally Enabled, and Digitally Mature, aligned with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework but adapted to Uganda's unique environment. The study identifies ongoing issues such as data breaches, financial fraud, and weak digital infrastructure, as well as gaps in policy enforcement and the disconnect between cybersecurity regulations and SME operators' literacy levels, as key cybersecurity threats. Informal responses to cybercrime, including vigilante actions, are also highlighted. This study provides a maturity typology for SMEs that guides policymakers and business owners in improving cybersecurity practices in Ugandan SMEs. The study calls for multi-stakeholder collaboration, stronger regulatory enforcement, and scalable awareness programs to build a more resilient SME sector. Overall, this study contributes to the discourse on SME cybersecurity by proposing literacy-sensitive interventions tailored to the needs of Uganda and offering a foundation for future research into the effectiveness of Uganda's cybersecurity frameworks.

Chapter 3 - The Cyber Security Challenges in the IoT Era

The oil and gas industry, a cornerstone of the global economy, faces increasing cybersecurity challenges due to its reliance on complex, interconnected digital infrastructures.As the sector embraces advanced technologies such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), artificial intelligence, and cloud computing, it becomes a prime target for cyberattacks.These cyber threats can disrupt operations, cause environmental hazards, and jeopardize national security, given the industry's critical role in energy production.The convergence of Operational Technology (OT) with Information Technology (IT) has further expanded the attack surface, making oil and gas companies more vulnerable to malware, ransomware, and state-sponsored attacks.This paper explores the cybersecurity challenges specific to the oil and gas industry, focusing on the protection of critical infrastructure from emerging threats.It examines the vulnerabilities in the industry's digital and operational systems, from upstream exploration to downstream distribution, and highlights the consequences of cyber incidents, including financial loss, operational downtime, and reputational damage.Additionally, the paper reviews current security measures and regulatory frameworks, providing insights into the industry's preparedness to address these risks.By identifying key trends in cyber threats and evaluating best practices for cybersecurity management, this study emphasizes the need for robust defense mechanisms, industry-wide collaboration, and continuous updates to cybersecurity protocols.The paper concludes with recommendations for enhancing cybersecurity resilience, ensuring the protection of critical oil and gas infrastructure in the face of evolving cyber threats.

This systematic review investigates the evolving landscape of legal documentation and case management in the digital era, with a particular focus on how emerging technologies and cybersecurity challenges are reshaping institutional practices and legal support roles. Anchored in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 framework, this study systematically analyzed 87 peer-reviewed publications from 2001 to 2023. The sources were selected from a cross-disciplinary set of databases, including Scopus, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, and ProQuest, ensuring comprehensive coverage of scholarship in law, information systems, public policy, and legal informatics. The review identifies several interrelated themes that define contemporary legal digitization. Chief among them is the widespread implementation of electronic case management systems (CMS) and integrated court management systems (ICMS), which streamline litigation workflows through functionalities such as digital docketing, evidence uploads, calendaring, and audit trail generation. Concurrently, the review highlights the increasing adoption of cloud computing infrastructures—such as Clio, Practice Panther, and MyCase—which facilitate remote access, real-time collaboration, and scalable data storage for legal practices of varying sizes. These tools have contributed significantly to improving case throughput, procedural transparency, and access to justice in digitally mature jurisdictions. A central contribution of this review is its in-depth exploration of the shifting role of legal support staff—including paralegals, clerks, and administrative assistants—in the context of digital transformation. These roles, once narrowly defined by clerical functions, now encompass a range of techno-legal responsibilities such as metadata tagging, compliance auditing, secure document exchange, and system interface management. The findings emphasize that this evolution in professional responsibilities necessitates new forms of interdisciplinary training, digital certifications, and institutional support mechanisms, particularly in jurisdictions where legal digitization is outpacing human capacity development. Furthermore, the review highlights persistent disparities in data governance frameworks and compliance standards, particularly concerning the implementation of regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and ISO/IEC 27001. These disparities are shaped by jurisdictional inconsistencies, institutional maturity, cross-border data handling complexities, and varied interpretations of regulatory obligations. The resulting governance gaps raise critical concerns about digital accountability, client confidentiality, and the admissibility of electronic evidence in transnational legal contexts.

The transition towards decentralized energy systems, driven by the global shift to renewable energy sources, introduces new cybersecurity complexities that challenge traditional energy security paradigms. Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) systems comprising solar photovoltaics, wind turbines, microgrids, and battery storage are inherently decentralized, networked, and reliant on advanced digital technologies for real-time monitoring, control, and optimization. While these systems offer resilience, flexibility, and sustainability, they also expand the attack surface for cyber threats due to their reliance on Internet of Things (IoT) devices, cloud computing, and bidirectional communication protocols. This paper critically examines the cybersecurity challenges associated with DRE infrastructure, including unauthorized access, data breaches, malware propagation, and system manipulation, all of which could lead to energy theft, grid instability, and large-scale outages. Emerging opportunities lie in developing adaptive cybersecurity frameworks tailored to the unique topology of decentralized energy networks. These include the integration of artificial intelligence for anomaly detection, blockchain technologies for secure data exchange and identity management, and zero-trust architectures to enforce stringent access control. Additionally, the convergence of operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) within DRE environments demands cross-sectoral collaboration, robust regulatory frameworks, and enhanced stakeholder awareness to build cyber-resilient systems. The paper also highlights the necessity for proactive risk assessment, real-time threat intelligence sharing, and the establishment of decentralized security standards to harmonize practices across diverse stakeholders and jurisdictions. Case studies from recent cyber incidents in the energy sector provide empirical evidence of vulnerabilities and mitigation strategies. By exploring both the risks and solutions, the study underscores the dual imperative of securing DRE systems not only as critical infrastructure but also as pivotal enablers of the global clean energy transition. In conclusion, while decentralized energy systems present new cybersecurity challenges, they also create opportunities to reimagine and strengthen energy security in the digital age. Addressing these issues through innovation, regulation, and cooperation will be crucial for ensuring sustainable and secure energy futures.

Data privacy and cybersecurity challenges in the digital transformation of the banking sector

The conceptualization of cyber security is currently in the making. In the last decade, the frequent concerns with power and control in the cyber space, coupled with attempts at diminishing the risks posed by ‘invisible actors’ to critical infrastructure while ensuring free access, have represented real challenges to the adoption of national cyber security frameworks. In spite of the wide acknowledgement of cyber threats as a global problem, limited efforts to adopt a common approach towards reducing risks were undertaken till now at the international level. With more than 26% of world’s population using the Internet as of 2009 (ITU 2010: ix), the cyber risks are growing. According to Libicki, only in the US, the “estimates of the damage from today’s cyber attacks range from hundreds of billions of dollars to just a few billion dollars per year” (2009: xv).

Nowadays, enterprises face many challenges of cyber security. How to efficiently allocate defensive resources to reduce damages which are caused by cyber attackers and evaluate system survivability to keeping services operating became important issues. Hence, we develop a scenario of that both cyber attacker and network defender are with incompletely understanding the information about each other is considered. We conduct a mathematical model for analyze this problem for the decision makers to resolve these dilemmas. The Average DOD is then applied to evaluate damage degree of network to estimate all possible strategies which both cyber attacker and network defender would take. Moreover, network defender could release message which might be doing nothing at all, truth, secrecy or deception to confuse cyber attacker to achieve better defense efficiency. In the process of problem solving, the "gradient method" and "game theory" would be used to obtain the optimal resource allocation strategies for both cyber attacker and network defender.

A Smart Grid (SG) is an electrical infrastructure much like legacy power grid with scalable and pervasive two-way communications, timely control capabilities, large scale integration of distributed resources and efficient use of resources. The SG provides the features of pervasive smart monitoring technologies, automatic equipment fault sensing and self-healing. The features like `Wireless Automatic Meter Reading' (WAMR), monitoring of power system stability, distributed energy resources optimization and applications of Demand Response system makes it intelligent infrastructure. Given some of these salient features, SGs without any doubt are the future power infrastructure of energy world. A smart grid has ability to connect millions of consumers and devices in a network which demand it to be highly robust, reliable and secure. Security is considered as one of the major challenges in the present-day smart grid systems because of its long-range communication on open networks. Cybercriminals, hackers, terrorists are trying to attack this national infrastructure due to their malicious intensions or to get control on the automated energy monitoring and remote controlling for personal gains. This review paper offers a comprehensive survey of understanding of Smart Grids, architecture of SGs, methodologies used, the communication protocols but the focus is mainly on the cyber-attacks carried out and solutions recommended on the smart grids. We finally discuss the various challenges in cyber security, the issues that still exist in the literature and current solution space with future research gap.

Intrusion detection systems (IDS) are among the most promising approaches for securing data and networks; through the years, numerous categorization algorithms have been utilized in IDS. In recent years, as the alarming increase in computer connectivity and the substantial number of applications associated with computer technology have increased, the challenge of cyber security is constantly rising. A proper system of protection for numerous cyber-attacks is also required. This is how incoherence and attacks in a computer network are detected and IDS developed, which could play a possible role in cyber security. The authors used the CICIDS2017 dataset to meet this objective. It is the 2017 set of the Canadian Cyber Security Institute. The authors propose an IDS based on the deep learning technique to increase safety. The purpose was to use a neural network classifier to predict the network and web attacks.

Today's business environment is moving at lightning speed, and with digital transformation at the forefront, corporate security has changed from just an operational responsibility to a significant strategic element. This review paper explores the ways in which information technologies are transforming the current landscape of corporate security models. It highlights the importance of integrating automated systems, digital tools for spotting and preventing risks, and effective incident management strategies. A multidisciplinary approach is emphasized, covering physical, technical, human, and organizational aspects of protection. The paper discusses the contemporary challenges in cyber security, focusing on the increasing intricacy of cyber-attacks, the push for tougher regulatory standards, and the ethical and legal issues that emerge in a globalized digital landscape. By examining real-world cases, it brings to light the necessity of adopting a proactive mindset when developing security strategies that can stand up to the constantly evolving and intricate digital threats. Ultimately, it concludes that information security must be regularly updated, intricately linked to the broader corporate strategy, and based on realistic risk assessments to ensure the organization's long-term stability, reputation, and competitiveness.

The growing use of cloud services, increased number of users, novel mobile operating systems and changes in network infrastructures that connect devices create novel challenges for cyber security. In order to counter arising threats, network security mechanisms and protection schemes also evolve and use sophisticated sensors and methods. The drawback is that the more sensors (probes) are applied and the more information they acquire, the volume of data to process grows significantly. In this paper, we present real-time network data analysis mechanism. We also show the results for SQL Injection Attacks detection.

2016 International Conference on Innovation and Challenges in Cyber Security (ICICCS-INBUSH)