Journal of Security and Sustainability Issues

Barry Buzan’s thought has shaped constructivism and International Security Studies since the 1990s. In this paper, it is argued that ISS does insufficient justice to the case of the Iraqi Kurdish military counterattacks and wider societal mobilization against ISIS. The paper introduces the concepts of spontaneous and semi-spontaneous securitization, where the referent object of securitization is not the nation state or even the Kurdistan Region but the more traditionally defined community and its individual members, plus religiously or ethnically defined groups that are under the protection of the regionally dominant identity community. Worryingly, in Sunni Arab areas such as Mosul, insurrection and semi-spontaneous securitization has been an aspect to how ISIS captured that city. Further theoretical problems such as the securitization of immigration in Buzan’s theoretical framework, are exposed and applied to the case of ISIS and Iraqi Kurdistan. Research for this article took place during on the field visits to Erbil and the KRI in 2016 by the author and his team of HDF General Staff Scientific Research Centre.

The methodical approach to the integrated evaluation of the energy independence of the country and its regions has been improved based on the multidimensional mean, which includes the selection of statistical indicators, the choice of the base of their normalization, the use of the analytic hierarchy process for evaluation of weighting coefficients and the method of aggregation of indicators in the integrated evaluation of energy independence. Using the coverage ratio of consumption with the production of fuel and energy resources, the state of energy dependence has been analyzed for some world countries, which have successes in conducting the energy policy and experience of which should be implemented in the national strategy for the development of the energy complex. The calculation of integral indicators of energy independence for each region will make it possible to determine the “strong” and “weak” regions in the energy sector, identify the reasons of lagging of the most “energy-dependent” areas, and develop appropriate recommendations for improving energy independence for each region.

User identifiers for financial transactions are widely used for personal identification numbers (PINs). PIN numbers are deposited at ATMs, card payments at POS terminals and electronic banking services. Bank card (ATM) credit card fraud has dramatically increased over the last decade. When analyzing the most common attacks and the reasons for successful frauds, it is clear that the main problem is PIN authentication, which itself does not produce any security features (except for the use of stars). This means that security is based solely on user behaviour. Research has focused on areas where personal protection and security is most failing, and that’s where the user is carrying a PIN along with a credit card, whether he or she changed the PIN on the payment card, and whether the PIN does not specify the date or year of his birth.

The research paper discusses different issues of interpretation and qualification of illegal access to an information system (IS), taking into account international instruments and European Union legislation as well as the relevant case law of Lithuania. Analysis of criminal cases and legal regulation shows that such cases require an appropriate combination of the technical and legal sides of such criminal offences. In this context, it is also important that criminal liability for illegal access to an IS must be underpinned not only by the principles of technological neutrality and equivalent assessment but also must ensure respect for the ultima ratio (last resort) principle. It is this principle which in particular is the subject of considerable attention in the research paper in terms of over-criminalisation of illegal access to an IS. While solving the puzzle of technology and terminology alignment, the paper also explores the elements of illegal access to an IS. In the light of developments in Lithuanian case law, more emphasis is placed on the debatable infringement of security measures, as an element, and on possible interpretation of its content.

A set of criteria has been substantiated for evaluating the effectiveness of the implementation of the functions of the mechanism for ensuring the leadership effectiveness of the managerial staff of enterprises. The set gives a chance to make a comprehensive evaluation of the integral indicator of human resource management. This makes it possible to determine the effectiveness level of human resource management. The study carried out allowed to propose a functional and structural approach that includes the following functions: analysis and planning of personnel, recruitment and selection of personnel, attestation and evaluation of personnel, organization of labor relations, motivational support, creation of working conditions, information provision, development and training of personnel. Under uncertainty, its application makes it possible to evaluate the impact of the effectiveness of the human resource management on the level of productivity of the studied enterprises.

This comparative study explores the contribution of non-financial services, namely, micro training and social capital towards women micro enterprise sustainability in Pakistan and Malaysia, specifically focusing on women, the vulnerable section of the society. Because of gender discrimination, women micro enterprise sustainability is relatively low, and thus, has lower contribution to economy in Pakistan and Malaysia (20% to 25%). The moderating role of environmental disaster is considered in this cross-sectional research. The responses were gathered from females working micro enterprises through survey questionnaire while data was analyzed through SmartPLS 3. Results revealed that environmental disaster has significant impact on women micro enterprise sustainability in Pakistan and Malaysia. Micro training also is evident to have statistically significant impact on women micro enterprise sustainability in both countries. Interestingly, social capital has significant impact on women enterprise sustainability in Malaysia while non-significant in Pakistan. Lastly, environmental disaster has significant moderating role between micro training and women micro enterprise sustainability in Pakistan and Malaysia. This study is a pioneer to investigate women micro enterprise sustainability in cross-cultural manner while including environmental disaster’s moderating role. Thus, this study assists the governments of Pakistan and Malaysia along with the practitioners to enhance understanding and implement strategies to boost women micro enterprise sustainability.

The behavior of agents to ensure financial security on the basis of game theory was analyzed, the winning strategy taking into account risk and uncertainty was determined. Using Data Mining the useful functions of this technology were identified to ensure financial security: suspicious transactions determination, credit risks analysis, client account reliability analysis, financial indicators predicting and risks control. A comparison was made of the assessment of the effectiveness of various data mining algorithms on the nature of financial transactions and decision-making procedures in the financial security system. It was proved that the development of information technology has created a whole range of vulnerabilities in the financial system, in particular, has transformed the form of money in modern conditions - the emergence of a cryptocurrency. The influence of the formation and development of cryptocurrency on financial security at all levels of the economy: micro and macro was analyzed.

The national security strategies in terms of the energy independence of the EU member states were analyzed. It is proved that it is diversification of energy sources that will ensure the reduction of the energy intensity of the gross domestic product of the country. Only the development of energy-saving technologies based on the use of alternative energy sources will improve environmental safety as a component of energy. The evidences of an effective energy system of the country, which is able to protect national security from external and internal threats, were considered. It is clarified that it is advisable to determine the specifics of the implementation of energy saving processes taking into account the temporal determination of the number of potential consumers. This circumstance mediates the dependence of the population on the number of energy generating and energy distribution organizations that serve it. The model of the dynamics of the number of potential consumers who know about energy-saving products allows reflecting the success of the communication activities of organizations in modern energy markets.

Organizations have to face both the opportunities that the technologies provide and the challenges that they create in the local or global market as the consumer behavior in the electronic environment is different from the behavior in an actual shop, therefore it is important to not only understand the changing needs of the customers, the factors that influence their behavior but also to choose suitable strategies while trying to satisfy these needs taking in consideration security issues. For this reason, an important purpose of this study is to indicate the factors that determine the behavior of an e-shop customer by conducting a pilot study in Lithuania. The research identified the key factors of consumer behavior in an e-shop. To establish factors determining the online shop customer preferences, five factor groups were identified on the basis of empirical research: product (service) characteristics, delivery, methods of payment, service quality and web page functionality characteristics. The results of the structured consumer survey showed that the factors that positively influence the decision to buy goods online are lower cost, less time consumption, an ability to make an order at any time of the day, and a larger range of products. The key factors that negatively affect the online shopping are product quality, delivery costs, security aspects, delivery time, and complicated online shopping process. The main problem areas faced by online shoppers were delays in product delivery, product quality, insufficient choice of payment methods, difficult return procedures, too little information about the product. After performing the correlation regression analysis of the structured survey, the following relationships are established: the frequency of online shopping is significantly correlated with the product’s compliance with expectations, which indicates that the customers who were satisfied with the quality of online products, more often shop on the Internet.

In order to form an effective analytical support for the management of the economic and environment safety of organizations, the initial positions of environmental and economic analysis were substantiated. This allowed expanding the understanding of economic analysis in ensuring the effective interaction of the organization with the environment. As a result of the study of the methods of environmental and economic analysis of the priority objects of management of economic and environment safety, the absence of a system of indicators and a mechanism for their use has been established, which significantly reduces the quality level of the management information space. In order to solve this problem, the work developed the author’s methods of environmental and economic analysis:1) models of environmental and economic analysis of the production process in terms of waste management (proposed calculation procedure, interaction mechanism, information support, procedure for factor models construction of waste cost ratios, waste capacity ratios, waste replacement ratios, waste replacement efficiency ratios); 2) procedure for analyzing the cost of processing, recycling and disposal of waste. The use of these techniques allowed us to identify the reserves for increasing the level of environmental and economic security of organizations.