#InfosecurityEurope2022: Geopolitical Tensions a “Danger” to Cybersecurity

On the opening working day of Infosecurity Europe 2022, renowned creator and journalist Mischa Glenny furnished an insightful overview of cybersecurity and its intersection with geopolitical affairs in his keynote speak.

Glenny began by drawing his audience’s attention to the precarity of the existing geopolitical era, explained as each “the age of uncertainty” and “the wonderful unraveling.” Glenny warned that cybersecurity issues represented an existential menace, which he involved as part of the metaphor of ‘the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse,’ with Glenny contemplating the other three as pandemics, weapons of mass destruction and the climate crisis.

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Ahead of addressing the issues posed to cybersecurity by the latest Russia-Ukraine conflict, Glenny detailed the historic context of cyber-attacks more typically, talking about every little thing from the ‘ILoveYou’ computer system worm of 2000 to large powers these kinds of as Russia conducting KGB-funded cyber-attacks on Estonia in 2007. Glenny then defined that the on the internet place has developed to one wherever levels of competition among the wonderful powers is vastly important and cybersecurity and geopolitics are now deeply intertwined, stressing that malevolent actors exist, each within just Russia and over and above, and these attacks have implications on civilian populations.

Interest then turned to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and Glenny asserted that in spite of media interest remaining concentrated on the frontlines, the scale of cyber-attacks has been significant, with extreme hacking strongly correlating with “high kinetic sites.” Considering that the Russian invasion commenced, there has been a downturn in the deployment of ransomware attacks in other places in Europe, as main actors these kinds of as Conti – a innovative Russia-primarily based ransomware group – turn their consideration to Ukraine. Glenny also said that ransomware attacks are significantly less profitable than other varieties of malevolent acts such as CEO fraud and company email compromise, cautioning firms and stressing the have to have for organization resilience.

Due to sanctions imposed on Russia and a ban on importing substantial-finish technologies, Glenny explained to audience customers that this focussed Russia’s awareness on Ukraine’s ample raw elements, largely found in the Dombras region and eastern Ukraine, far more normally, and the Black Sea. Having said that, this pursuit of raw supplies has broader implications for other pieces of the world, with Russia having operated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the earlier 5 decades searching for uncommon metals such as gold and lithium.

Glenny comprehensive that any “positive” news which is come out of the conflict has been in the kind of Russia agitating its largest ally China, with Xi Jinping irritated by Putin dictating how and when China confronts the West. This, in Glenny’s view, has probably lessened the chasm in between China and the US, which is vital if the world’s two most significant powers are to collaborate constructively in tackling important existential issues these as local climate concerns.

Glenny ended his talk with an charm for the conclude to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, to emphasis minds and “get down to work” to address humanity’s myriad issues: “for if we’re to solve the broader crises that we presently experience, we have to have to do the job together.”