Another issue is the diversification of threat actors and their access to nation state cyber weapons. Less positive developments include the proliferation of the nation-state threat, which they cited as the predominant threat facing many organisations. They concluded that while many of the same issues and risks that existed twenty years ago persisted, progress had been made.Ĭyber security is now mainstream, and hackers now routinely work with vendors, which was unheard of in 1998 (hence the pseudonyms, which were a means to avoid lawsuits from vendors whose vulnerabilities were being exposed by L0pht). Nearly twenty years after their testimony to Congress, some of the original L0pht founders re-grouped for a seminar hosted by the Congressional internet Caucus - A Disaster Foretold and Ignored: Revisiting the First-Ever Congressional Cybersecurity Hearing - by which time most of them had either worked at DARPA or Google, or were holding C-level positions at corporations such as IBM, Veracode and Stripe. Leon Panetta’s cyber Pearl Harbour has failed to materialise, leading many to conclude that our fears are overblown. Those predicting cybergeddon - that is to say digitally created chaos, destruction and societal breakdown - are, happily, still waiting for their told-you-so moment. Collectively known as L0pht Heavy Industries, the group famously testified that they would be able to disable the internet, a network of networks designed to withstand a nuclear war, within thirty minutes. The dangers were first pointed out to Congress in 1998 by hackers Brian Oblivion, Kingpin, Mudge, Space Rogue, Stefan von Neumann, Tan and Weld Pond. The pantheon of cyber doomsayers includes hacking collectives, Government officials and tech luminaries, most of whom have been ignored. In making this apocalyptic assertion Harari is entering a crowded market. Known for the disturbing accuracy of his predictions, Harari suggests that the prime candidate for the next global catastrophe is an attack on the very technology that has enabled us to manage Covid-19. Whilst the article is decidedly optimistic, Harari also points out that we are now perilously dependent upon the internet and the digital infrastructures built upon it. Previous generations had no choice other than to go to their offices and factories. Such tools were not available during the three other pandemics to have occurred since 1918.
Humanity has thus avoided economic meltdown and the slowdowns that will follow are likely to be recessions rather than depressions. Financial markets have continued to function, and many of us have been able to work remotely.
Information technology has enabled us to monitor the spread of the virus and to isolate outbreaks. Digitisation and automation have enabled trade and agriculture to continue with direct input from very few human beings. He cites biotechnology, which has enabled us to sequence the virus genome and develop vaccines to defeat it. Writing in the Financial Times in February 2021, Harari, who is known for best-selling works such as Sapiens and Homo Deus, makes the case for technology during Covid-19. Is he right to be concerned about cybergeddon, or is he just the latest cyber doomsayer?Īccording to author Yuval Noah Harari, science and technology have, for the first time in history, enabled mankind to effectively manage a global pandemic.
The renowned author Yuval Noah Harari is worried that the next global pandemic will be a digitally inspired catastrophe.