News
Cyber Expert: Russian warns of attacks on western critical infrastructure
April 2022 by Guy Golan, CEO of Performanta
‘The conflict between Russia and Ukraine extends beyond these two countries – it is now a stand-off between Russia and the West. For the first time in history, we are on the verge of a fully-fledged cyber world war.
At the centre of this global tension is the ‘balance of terror,’ a stalemate primarily between the US, Russia, and China, where each party holds access and control over the others’ critical systems, including power grids and water supplies.
We are just one major act of aggression away from triggering a devastating series of events. An attack on one party’s critical infrastructure will cause further retaliation and greater damage. But equally, an attempt to remove the others’ control and take back their systems could force the hands of parties involved. Relieving one pressure could result in a larger pressure elsewhere. Maintaining the ‘balance of terror’ is therefore of fundamental importance to avoid global devastation.
Now, we’re beginning to witness developments that could impact this balance. The IT Army, made up of over 300,000 independent cyber experts, will play a major role in how this situation escalates or de-escalates between Russia and the West.
The IT Army is admirably supporting Ukraine but, in doing so, a new pressure point has been added. Whilst independent from any global power or alliance, if its activities are viewed as the opposite, then there is a risk of an aggressive response from Russia as the balance of terror comes under threat of disruption. One foot over the line could be enough to tip the balance, and the escalation would be immediate.
Both sides know that crossing the line could result in physical catastrophe that would endanger millions of lives, such as long-term damage to critical infrastructure or even nuclear fallout. However, neither side wants this to happen, so the stalemate continues, and the risk of this changing is low. But for the first time, this balance has come under genuine threat.
Where cybersecurity was previously kept in the shadows, a discreet use of aggression between governments, organisations, and countries, it has now broken through the surface and into the public domain. The shift has, and will continue to, change the way that cyber is viewed and utilised moving forwards, for all of us’
