[BreachExchange] Cyberattacks Almost as Impactful as Natural Disasters: WEF

[Audrey McNeil]

https://hackercombat.com/cyberattacks-almost-as-impactful-as-natural-disasters-wef/

Cyberattacks, as per a recent report by the WEF (World Economic Forum), are
almost as disastrous for the already-struggling economies as are natural
disasters.

The WEF Global Risks Report 2019, released recently, has flagged
cyberattacks, data fraud and critical infrastructure breakdown among the
year’s most significant causative risks. The report, which presents a
detailed analysis of societal risks, underscores the critical importance of
cybersecurity. It says that cyberattacks, which are almost as likely as
natural disasters are, would have an impact that’s similar to water crisis,
on the global level.

As per the WEF Global Risks Report 2019, cyberattacks pose lesser risk
compared only to extreme weather events, natural disasters, water crises,
biodiversity loss and our failure to mitigate climate change. Data fraud or
data theft, though slightly more likely than cyberattacks, is actually a
bit less impactful.

CSO Online reports, “Based on the opinions of nearly 1000 global
decision-makers, the WEF Global Risks Report 2019 also flagged quantum
computing and “emotionally responsive” artificial intelligence as key
disruptors but flagged cybersecurity risk as a major and likely issue for
already-struggling economies around the world.”

The CSO report further says, analyzing the WEF Global Risks Report 2019-
“Cyberattacks were linked to trends such as increasing national sentiment,
the increasing polarisation of societies, shifting power, and rising income
and wealth disparity…They were connected to a range of risks including the
failure of critical infrastructure, critical information infrastructure
breakdown, terrorist attacks, profound social instability, interstate
conflict, failure of national governance, and the adverse consequences of
technological advances.”

The Global Risks Report is based on the WEF’s annual GRPS (Global Risks
Perceptions Survey), which covers around 1,000 members of WEF’s
multistakeholder communities. The executive summary for the Global Risks
Report 2019 observes, “Technology continues to play a profound role in
shaping the global risks landscape. Concerns about data fraud and
cyber-attacks were prominent again in the GRPS, which also highlighted a
number of other technological vulnerabilities: around two-thirds of
respondents expect the risks associated with fake news and identity theft
to increase in 2019, while three-fifths said the same about loss of privacy
to companies and governments. There were further massive data breaches in
2018, new hardware weaknesses were revealed, and research pointed to the
potential uses of artificial intelligence to engineer more potent
cyberattacks. Last year also provided further evidence that cyber-attacks
pose risks to critical infrastructure, prompting countries to strengthen
their screening of cross-border partnerships on national security grounds.”

82 percent of those covered in the survey felt that 2019 would see
increased risks around the theft of money and data and 80 percent expected
cyberattacks to cause disruption of operations and infrastructure. Almost
60 percent expected that 2019 would witness increasing loss of privacy to
companies and governments and 69 percent expected to see a rise in risks
associated with fake news. Another issue that bothered many was identity
theft; 64% of respondents felt there would be an increase in identity theft
in 2019.

The report’s findings prove that the world is now aware of the risks that
cyberattacks pose to the overall digital economy and to our way of life
itself. It also shows that many recent attacks (WannaCry, Equifax etc) have
had a considerable impact on our global psyche and we have started taking
into account the frequency of cyberattacks and the risk they pose.


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