Viral security: epidemiology and national security

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Subtitle: 
Bioterrorism and warfare, strategic communications and cybersecurity

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Aims and scope: 
The Covid-19 crisis has brought epidemics to the the forefront of national debate, both among policy makers and scholars. The devastating effects of the virus for health systems and the national economy have drawn attention to the potential threat of bioterrorism and warfare. But the increased interest in epidemiology has also allowed scholars to see the link between viral disease, cybersecurity and propaganda, and how this applies to natural, state-sponsored or terrorist threats. This course will examine the national and international political, economic, and policy dimensions of these threats, and how leaders work at business, national and international levels to fight them. The course will cover the history of state sponsored biological warfare, propaganda and cybersecurity programs, the scope of natural, state-sponsored, and terrorist biosecurity, propaganda and cybersecurity threats, national and international biosecurity, strategic communication and cybersecurity capabilities and limitations. After succesfully completing this course, students should be aware of concepts such as epidemics and pandemics, viral news, basic reproduction number, containment, mitigation, herd immunity, and be able to identify viral theats to business and national security, and design strategies to deal with them.
Topics: 
1. Basics of epidemiology. 2. Natural epidemics and pandemics. 3. Biological warfare and bioterrorism. 4. Biosecurity. 5. Viral news. Social networks. 6. Propaganda. State and non-state actors. Domestic and foreign propaganda. 7. Strategic communications for fighting propaganda. 8. Computer viruses. State and non-state actors. Domestic and foreign actors. 9. Cybersecurity.
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