Cyber-attacks – Kuwait Times | Kuwait Times – Kuwait Times

Badrya Darwish

The recent cyber-attacks that affected many countries around the globe made me think about the future of cybercrime, cyber war and our vulnerabilities. How serious can it reach in the future? One of the worst affected by the recent attacks was the NHS system in the UK. The ransomware caused a lot of chaos for doctors, hospitals and patients. Thank God no one died, but it was chaos for a few days. Of course, other firms worldwide were affected too.

Now comes the serious point. First of all, who are these hackers? No one knows. Do they belong to one group? Who commands them? Accusations were thrown left, right and center at certain governments and certain countries, but there was no full proof of who was behind it and I dont buy it. Its easy to cast aspersions without proof, and if they had proof, we would know it.

Could the cyber attackers be a bunch of super intelligent kids hacking the system for fun or profit? Or could it be spy agencies working for certain governments? If these super hackers can invade the US security system and the NSA, how safe should we feel? Maybe this time, it was only certain targets. But this could lead in the future to bigger issues.

How safe are nuclear weapons around the world? And not only nuclear there are many types of weaponry like biological weapons (germ warfare) owned by different governments and sold to troubled places that could be really vulnerable to attacks by cyber hackers. This time it seemed to be focused on criminals making money. But what if politics enters it? What if groups like Daesh start trying to engage in cyber-attacks?

Everything nowadays is computerized from airplanes to ships to power plants to hospitals, electricity grids, gas plants, LNG facilities you name it, its online. How scary and terrifying it is when you feel that there is no security left in any place in the world, except an African forest. We are entering a new era of global insecurity, unfortunately.

Have a safe week.

By Badrya Darwish badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

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Cyber-attacks - Kuwait Times | Kuwait Times - Kuwait Times