Geopolitics, in its broad definition, refers to the relationship between geography and politics. In other words, geopolitics is an analytical concept that connects the political context with the focus on geography. It considers different social, economic, technological, political, and environmental processes, which shape the geopolitical picture of the world today. The development of computer and data technologies introduced cyber operations and cybersecurity to the global community. Hence, cybersecurity is also a factor, which affects and shapes geopolitics.
National security is one of the major roles that any government is assigned to offer to its people. Security is so important because, without it, many lives will be lost, confidential information about people will be leaked out, properties and possessions may also be lost through theft. Provision of security to information technology and the tools used in the technology is also paramount. Defense of information technology involves detecting, preventing the threat, and responding in time to the danger by administering security strategies, software equipment, and digital information services. Security is crucial in all organizations and businesses of different sizes. Lack of enough security leads to compromised information and systems.
Cyber security is also known as digital information security. It is the protection of the information, systems, and networks from unapproved individuals who desire to access them without permission (Johnson, 2015). The intruders aim to alter or destroy the information and the programs. Cyber security is also described as measures and operations that are put in place to be to ensure that the damages and threats are minimized. It incorporates all mechanisms to protect the digital systems from any fraud.
The Homeland security department has its significance in preventing American citizens from acts of terrorism, protecting them against acts of terrorism, and responding effectively to terrorism when attacked. In undertaking all these duties actively and efficiently, the department has put in place measures to facilitate security through advanced technology. In this regard, it exploits modern technology to detect, collect, and assess the relevance of suspicious individuals or activities (Johnson, 2015). The driving aim of doing all these is to detect and thwart terrorists before they strike.
With all these efforts, the Department of Homeland Security is evidently trying to fight all forms of terrorism, which could be nurtured and implemented in many ways. The various efforts employed are covering many loopholes that potential terrorists could have used to plan and execute attacks. For instance, the uses of modern information technology to monitor, collect and assess relevant information of suspicious individuals are vital in thwarting terrorist activities. However, these activities, especially surveillance on citizens, are invading their privacy at any given time (Guiora, 2017). This is especially true for individuals who have been mistakenly marked as suspicious. Such individuals will have all their communications of any kind investigated through various means, even if it means hacking into their private emails and computer systems in order to analyze all the data that may lead to any form of connection with terrorism.
One of the most resonant examples of how cybersecurity affects geopolitics can be seen in scandals surrounding WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks is an organization that reveals documents that contain evidence of corrupt or illegal activities by the governments of different countries. For example, WikiLeaks released numerous military logs concerning the war in Afghanistan (Munro, 2017). The release painted the war as a failure and disclosed the huge number of unreported civilian deaths, higher terrorist activity, and the sponsorship of terrorism by Pakistan. Such information shaped the international opinion on this war and hence shaped the geopolitical agenda.
References
Guiora, A. N. (2017). Cybersecurity: Geopolitics, law, and policy. Routledge.
Johnson, T. A. (Ed.). (2015). Cybersecurity: Protecting critical infrastructures from cyber attack and cyber warfare. CRC Press.
Munro, I. (2017). Whistle-blowing and the politics of truth: Mobilizing ‘truth games’ in the WikiLeaks case. Human Relations, 70(5), 519-543.