A common definition of terrorism refers to acts that intend to create fear. Targeting a primal anxiety was the intention of the cyber attack carried out against Sony pictures and the threats carried out against theaters showing the film.

to all of our surprise, it worked!!!!

The Sony hacking saga took a sinister turn on Tuesday when hackers sent a message and threatened to target theaters showing “The Interview” in a 9/11 type attack. Major movie chains said they would not show the film and actors James Franco and Seth Rogen have already canceled all media appearances promoting their film.

A Sony spokesman said the company had no further release plans for the film, in its statement, Sony also said the company was “the victim of an unprecedented criminal assault against our employees, our customers, and our business. Those who attacked us stole our intellectual property, private emails, and sensitive and proprietary material, and sought to destroy our spirit and our morale.”

States, organizations and the general public have been targets for many years to constant acts of terrorism and yet they continue to prosper.

how is that possible?

The answer is that they establish and develop resiliency, just like the adaptive species Charles Darwin described in his work  “On the origin of species” and the “anti-fragile” philosophy presented by Nassim Taleb.

Part of developing this resilience can be attributed to the fact that organizations and the general public carry out a system of risk analysis and role playing allowing individuals and organizations to better prepare themselves for adverse events.

and yet from time to time we find ourselves asking “how did we not prepare ourselves for this event” as we are sure Sony pictures are now asking themselves.

Lotan Strategic Gaming (LSG) simulations encourages our customers to develop new skills, ideas and practices while using game based learning thus putting theory into practice in a fail-safe environment. Our learning methodology develops tactical and strategic ways of thinking and effective deployment as part of a holistic approach to the organization’s challenges.

Experience shows us that only by experiencing by ourselves can we truly evaluate and learn to be better. Using Lotan Strategic Gaming active platform is a solution that will help us answer the main question that needs answering:

Are we prepared?

The passing week has been very eventful and presses forward many questions on both these events.  Many a strategist will appear in the media on one of these events with his/her analysis and maybe they will even be right…

But the real question that needs to be answered is, “Are We Prepared”?  Have we been able to prepare ourselves for the unpredictable chain of events that will next rock our world? Have we used the times of calm and routine operations to analyze and predict our reactions to the unpredictable chain of events that may happen next?

We all know that in a world were risk management has become the epicenter of our operations we cannot prepare ourselves for each and every scenario and yet the effects of these unpredicted events can cripple us.

For some time we have been seeing  that implementing a multiplayer role-based approach where the main focal point of the system is not an exact image of the “battlefield and its players”, but rather, creating a dynamic environment, completely flexible, allowing Strategic Scenarios and sustaining processes of thinking and planning in relation to them. This concept is based on the approaches and methodologies of role-playing games (Role Play) and War Games (War Gaming).

Many organizations be they commercial, financial or even governmental have started to use this approach in order to Predict future challenges, Develop new procedures, Examine preparedness, Train & Practice their organizations and Examine new concepts & strategies.

The approach allows organizations to simulate events thus test their preparedness (be it new competition, product recall, safety event, terror attack or even internal unrest) in a “safe” environment thus we see a new aspect of Risk Management or as managers have started to say “The Future of Risk Management is Present“

In an ever changing world, organizations must respond quickly and effectively to its challenges in order to survive. They must be able to:

Volgograd, formerly known as the city of Stalingrad has been attacked twice in 48 hours and it is a city in a state of shock. It is believed, that an extremist Islamic group is responsible for the two attacks.
The attacks taking place in the last two days, one at the city’s central railway station and another on a bus killed dozens of people and raised anxieties about the safety of the Olympics.

The Target:
Choosing Volgograd is a major rail hub in Russia and when travelling from Moscow or other parts of central Russia to Sochi, you travel through Volgograd. It’s also the rail station you travel through to get to and from the North Caucasus. The north Caucasus conflict goes back many years and has exacted a heavy toll on both sides. Chechens have laid claim to land in the Caucasus Mountains region for more than 5,000 years. The standard of living in the republics is poor compared with the rest of Russia. Unemployment is rampant and infant mortality is high. In addition, the Chechen population of about 1 million is mostly made up of Sunni Muslims, who maintain a distinctly different cultural and linguistic identity from Russian Orthodox Christians.
The Attacker:
The Siberian Times named the so-called ”Black Widow” as Oksana Aslanova, 26. She was reported as having been married to two Islamic militant leaders killed by Russian forces in the North Caucasus. Chechen women bombers were named “Black Widows” by the Russian and international press when it became clear that many were acting in revenge for the deaths of their husbands, sons, and brothers. Chechnya’s notorious “Black Widows” have been active since June 7, 2000 when the first Chechen female suicide bombers drove a truck filled with explosives into the temporary headquarters of an elite OMON (Russian Special Forces). The attack resulted in two dead and five wounded. Since then Chechen female terrorists have been involved in more than twenty suicide attacks.

So What’s Next?
Terrorists have been interested in acquiring radioactive and nuclear material for use in attacks. For example, in 1995, Chechen extremists threatened to package radioactive material with explosives for use against Russia in order to force the Russian military to withdraw from Chechnya. While no explosives were used, officials later retrieved a package of cesium-137 the rebels had buried in a Moscow park. I believe that with the fact that radioactive material was found in the region (naming Georgia several times….) it is a very probable option.
Following the 9.11 attacks in the USA British authorities have disclosed that terror activists arrested in the USA and England have prepared a document known as the “Final Presentation” in which they have bought up the subject of using Radiological devices. During 2012 and 2013 US experts, UK Deputy Prime-minister and UN Nuclear chief, have warned that this may be a viable threat in the near future.

US officials said US and Russian authorities have engaged in extensive contacts regarding security preparations for Sochi’s Olympic Games. The United States is expected to share with Russia information it might collect about possible threats to the Games but we can see from this week’s events that damaging the Sochi Winter Olympics can be done by targeting other cities…

Happy “Old- New –Year”! счастливый старый новый год !