POTENTIAL DISRUPTIONS FROM CYBERATTACKS
Observers told CNA the episode was a stark reminder of the critical role machines play today.
“Modern societies run on technology,” said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at cybersecurity firm WithSecure.
“Modern societies run on computers. Computers control everything. And as we saw, when computers go down, our societies almost stop.”
The global outage has raised fears about potential disruptions from a large-scale cyberattack, said experts, adding that such a scenario is not that far-fetched.
The United States, for instance, has claimed that Chinese state-sponsored hackers have embedded into critical infrastructure, with the ability to carry out future disruptions. But China has denied the accusations.
Countries such as the US and Russia also have sophisticated offensive cyber capabilities.
“I think with the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, it’s really made everyone sit up and say: ‘Wait a minute, countries are at war again,’” said Jason Healey, senior fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
“Countries are invading each other for territorial gain again, and maybe states aren’t just going to be stealing information. Maybe they’re going to be doing these large-scale disruptions in a way that we really haven’t seen.”
From: channelnewsasia
Business News
