This Means (Cyber) War

There always seems to be some sort of war occurring in the world, be they civil wars or conflicts about ideology, but physical conflicts none the less. However, there is a war going on that many people can't see, with no actual "physical casualties" in the typical sense of a battle. An "out of sight, out of mind" scenario but one with some dire consequences none the less.

Having done a large series of posts on cyber crime and related topics, particularly during "Cyber Security Awareness Month" in October, it's scarily fascinating to watch the ever increasing internet attacks that seem to be happening daily.

Photo by Drew Graham on Unsplash 344554

The latest article from my subscription to Insurance Business brought up some interesting reports on the cyber crime that is currently plaguing the world and predictions that there will be an all out cyber war in 2018. Mass data breaches ( UBER and Equifax) and ransomware attacks ( Petya and NotPetya) are examples of the recent cyber crime wave and some of these types of activities can be traced to nation state sponsored acts of subversion. It's just a matter of time before politically motivated cyber crime becomes the most common type of attack, particularly when considering countries that have faced strict sanctions.

Anthony Dagostino, global head of cyber risk at multinational risk management firm Willis Towers Watson, believes nation state leaders who face economic sanctions could start encrypting their currencies and then conduct cryptocurrency mining and ransomware attacks to raise funds.

Of course, there are strategies to combat such warfare and global partnerships and communication seem to be the key, but it's a scary situation and one that needs more attention.

Norsecorp is a global cyber security firm that hosts a live cyber attack map, as pictured in this screen shot and showing thousands of attacks every hour.