The Global Cyberattack Pandemic Is Underway and Gaining Steam

India's Tata Power, LaGuardia Airport in New York, CommonSpirit Health in the US and the Bank of  England recently warning that cyberattacks are the biggest risk to the UK financial system; Australia's Medibank Private detecting a potential cyberattack; in Mexico, the exposure of classified  government information that included thousands of emails from the Armed Forces – exposing the  country’s vulnerability. I could go on with a lengthy list of cyberattacks from all over the world. And that is what it is: a global cyberattack pandemic that is not going to go away. A global disease on society that has not yet even scratched the surface. 

What point am I making here? We all know about this, don’t we? Well, let me be a little more specific. There are different countries and different industries around the world that could be  attacked; attacks that could spread quickly and easily, causing harm to people, businesses, healthcare  systems, political systems and the global functional system. There are no boundaries and no organization or  person is infallible when it comes to cyberattacks. This is not an isolated issue. We are all under  threat and it is only going to get bigger, more severe and on an industrial and nuclear level. 

Industrial and nuclear level? Yes. What is not often talked about is cyberattacks from an industrial  context. 

Firstly, before I talk about this in a bit more detail, Let me talk about the difference between an IT cyberattack and an industrial cyberattack. 

Clearly, both are serious. In IT cybersecurity – the concern is mostly the protection of data. Client  data, employee data, the stealing of customer credit card details, are  examples. This we know is worryingly quite common. We often see or hear related reports and you only must do a quick google search to understand the severity and the increased threat to businesses and their customers. 

Industrial cybersecurity is quite different and more serious. We are more interested in safety: the safety of people, critical infrastructure, the protection of tangible things, the environment that people are in and the functionality of systems that produce goods and materials.  

It is the protection of ICS (Industrial Controlled Systems). ICS are the backbone of critical  infrastructures, such as gas and oil companies, automation, healthcare, chemicals, transportation,  water systems — all key critical infrastructure that runs the planet in terms of people's lives. For example, gas and oil is a major commodity because people need to keep warm, eat and move about. If an ICS gets hacked and destroys the oil and gas infrastructure, at the very least, it seriously disrupts production. At the worst, it can cause serious physical harm or even kill people at that plant.  

You might be surprised to learn that historically, these environments tha

t I mentioned above, were initially not designed to be internet connected. Today, it's increasingly imperative to be connected for better production and overall better performance.  

In a nuclear context, it is also increasingly becoming more common and used as a weapon for military use. For some time, cyberattacks  have been weaponized or used for defense. For example, in 2021, it  was reported that Israel claimed that it was behind a cyberattack on an Iranian nuclear facility. You  might raise the question, how does this affect me today? The danger is that we normalize this. This then becomes a dangerous playground affecting everyone. 

You might also be thinking that these “attacks” must be highly sophisticated. That is not always strictly true. Let me give an example.  

One day, I walked into a chemical manufacturing company to do its routine maintenance. To achieve  this, I must gain access with my memory drive. I place my memory drive in the USB device and boom, I am in the company's system and effectively hacked or delivered a very damaging virus to that chemical  plant. The plant is in real trouble, with the possibility for real tangible damage, the risk of harming people within that environment, and monetary loss, to name a few.  

The thing is, I may not even be aware that my memory drive has a virus, or I did and it was a deliberate attempt to cause huge destruction.  

As you can see, it does not always take a computer wizard to cause a cyberattack. 

The fact is that cyberattacks are costing businesses and the global economy billions of dollars. They are one of the world’s fastest growing concerns. Today, there are three major threats to society. In no particular order, they are: nuclear war, climate change and major cyberattacks on an industrial level. 

My message is be vigilant and do everything possible to protect your company from increased threats of  cyberattacks.