Security: Theory and Practice

This article highlights the importance of analytical frameworks in enhancing the resilience of local communities to crisis-related threats, as they enable the identification and systematic organization of key factors influencing a community’s capacity to cope with crises. It emphasizes that effective resilience management should be grounded in a proactive approach that conceptualizes resilience as a dynamic property emerging from the interactions among social, technical, and environmental factors. Particular attention is paid to the role of residents’ active engagement, agency and shared responsibility for local safety and security.

The author proposes two complementary analytical frameworks: the resilience capacities framework and the community resilience activities framework. The most significant dimensions of resilience identified include social, economic and institutional capital, as well as capacities related to resilience management. Special emphasis is placed on communication, social trust and collaborative networks, which facilitate effective information exchange and resource mobilization during crisis situations.

The article also underscores the necessity of identifying and mitigating cognitive barriers, such as unrealistic optimism, normalcy bias and groupthink, which may hinder accurate risk assessment and preparedness. The author concludes that local community resilience should be understood as the capacity of the entire social system to self-regulate, collaborate, learn and adapt in response to evolving threats and changing environmental conditions.

This conceptual paper examines cybersecurity services and their relationship with organizational risk and control (R&C) frameworks. Addressing terminological inconsistencies and the lack of internal service-oriented perspectives in the existing literature, the study synthesizes current knowledge to propose a unified definition of cybersecurity services and analyzes how such services integrate with governance and operational mechanisms.

A structured literature synthesis was conducted across cybersecurity, information systems, management science and organizational security publications. The qualitative synthesis identified recurring themes, definitions and service taxonomies. A structured coding scheme classified cybersecurity services and mapped them to R&C artefacts, including policies, procedures and technical controls from ISO 27001 Annex A and NIST.

The study defines cybersecurity services as business-facing, outcome-oriented organizational offerings that safeguard assets in cyberspace whilst managing specialized costs, complexity and risks. A four-domain service taxonomy is introduced: governance, operations, engineering and cross-cutting services. The analysis demonstrates how these services operate within layered risk-mitigation ecosystems, where policies provide strategic direction, procedures ensure consistent implementation, and controls deliver operational safeguards.

Cybersecurity services form an integrative mechanism linking managerial and technical dimensions of organizational security. The framework proposed here enhances conceptual clarity, positions cybersecurity as a value-enabling capability, and strengthens resilience in threat-intensive environments. This study contributes one of the first structured mappings between cybersecurity services and R&C frameworks, offering practical guidance for improving secure digital operations.

In response to the challenges posed by the US Army’s “Revolution in Military Affairs” (RMA), the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has taken steps aimed at achieving a comparable level of combat capabilities by its 100th anniversary (2027). The approach of Chinese policymakers to the use of new technologies in the context of a future “intelligent war” is highly likely to differ from similar American initiatives, due to differences in strategic culture, organizational characteristics and operational requirements. Observing the actions of potential adversaries and real-world operations in contemporary conflicts is bound to influence decisions regarding which capabilities may be advantageous, and through that shape the direction of Chinese military innovations. This study presents the direction of strategic thinking and concepts used in the implementation of the latest technologies by the PLA through an analysis of literature dedicated to military innovations in the context of China.

In the 21^st century, we are witnessing a marked increase in the involvement of private military and security companies in ongoing armed conflicts. This trend stems from a variety of factors, including the growing commercialization of security and changes in the nature of modern warfare. States increasingly turn to private actors to fill gaps in military capabilities, enhance operational flexibility, reduce costs, and limit the political risks associated with deploying regular armed forces. However, the activities of private entities also pose numerous challenges for the states that contract their services and exert a direct influence on the socio‑political situation in conflict zones. The aim of this article is to identify the factors shaping the growing involvement of private military and security companies in 21^st‑century conflicts and to outline the resulting challenges for state actors.

This article examines the distinctive characteristics of agent recruitment within human intelligence (HUMINT) operations conducted in cyberspace. It analyzes selected modalities of informant recruitment employed by specialized HUMINT units operating in virtual environments, while simultaneously addressing the attendant risks and threats. Furthermore, it argues that the progressive migration of societal activity from the physical domain to the virtual sphere has significantly enhanced the strategic relevance of cyber-enabled human intelligence. The study posits that the principal mechanism for mitigating online recruitment efforts lies in the systematic enhancement of awareness among individuals who constitute potential intelligence targets, with regard to the methods, strategies and tradecraft employed by intelligence services. Ultimately, the article addresses a substantive gap in the existing literature concerning the recruitment of online information sources, conceptualizing this phenomenon as a strategic HUMINT response to the global population’s transition into cyberspace.