University Of Southampton

• Home
  • Overview of Learn with US
  • Academic Skills
  • Outreach Lectures & Seminars
  • Extended Project Support
  • Research Based Learning Project
  • Contact Us
  • Support Us
  • Booking Request Form
• University Home

Lecture (1 hour inclusive of lecture and Q&A)

Over the past decades, the gap between the physical and the virtual world has been steadily reducing as computer technology takes over more and more of the day to day running of our lives. From automatic doors to air traffic control, from Facebook to chip and pin cards, technology is entwined with our everyday existence.

It is this very dependence upon technology that led a group of eminent computer scientists to send a letter to the president of the United States, warning that America, and any other high tech state, faced a ‘digital Pearl Harbour’ if more was not done to combat the emerging threat of cyberterrorism.

The extent to which this threat is real is hotly debated amongst computer scientists, antiterrorist experts and academics alike.

This lecture explores these debates, focussing on issues such as:

• The convergence between the physical and virtual world
• What is a ‘digital Pearl Harbour’?
• Different kinds of hacking and the role of hackers themselves
• The globalisation of crime
• The internet as a propaganda and recruitment tool

For maximum benefit and skills development, students will be expected to take notes during the lecture. There will be a chance for questions and discussion of the issues raised at the end.

Seminar (1 hour)

The seminar session looks at the broader ideas behind the spread of the virtual world. Students will be asked to consider the dual use of much of emergent technology, such as chat rooms used to meet friends, and to recruit terrorists, the connection between online banking and identity theft, and many others. Students will also be asked to make a judgement as to whether the spread of the virtual world, and in particular the internet, represents a positive or negative development for society.

Students will be asked to consider the conflict between individual freedoms and state controls, and debate the extent to which internet usage should be monitored and policed for personal and national security.

Finally, the seminar group will also be asked to make a judgement about whether the real threat lies with the ‘digital Pearl Harbour’ of cyber warfare, or the low level threat of terrorist file sharing, identity theft and online crime.