“All of my technology has stopped working, what is happening?” World Economic Forum preparing the world for a Cyber Pandemic

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

“What would you do if you can’t access your bank accounts, the internet, or your cell phone suddenly stopped working? These are the kinds of things people really do need to think through because one day we may be facing a crisis like that,” John Sancenito (President of INA, a Security Consulting Firm in Harrisburg)

If you are like me and many other people across the world, you are probably pretty tired and done with the COVID-19 lockdowns and the confusion that has come with it.

Let me guess, with vaccine passports being dropped, and most restrictions being lifted by the end of the month, you think that things will begin to resemble how life was before 2020.

Sorry!

Apparently the World Economic Forum has begun to do simulation tests on another type of pandemic; a cyber pandemic, which apparently experts at the WEC are forecasting, just like how they forecasted the pandemic that devastated all of our lives.

So what do they know?

“It is inevitable that some larger attack is going to occur one day.” John Sancenito

The World Economic Forum kicked off its annual Cyber Polygon in 2020, which gave companies and governments the opportunity to participate in a simulation of a “Cyber Pandemic.” 

The Pioneers of Change Summit; Preparing for a Cyber Pandemic occurred on

November 16^th, 2020, and highlighted how COVID-19 reminded the world the interconnectedness and interdependencies of our digital infrastructure as well as key breaking points for cooperation. A global cyberattack would be very disruptive in the current environment, and their question was, are we ready for it?

How can the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic be used to prepare for future shocks? (https://www.weforum.org/events/pioneers-of-change-summit-2020/programme).

There were 200 teams from 48 countries who participated in the worldwide training exercise. Companies like IBM, Santander and Ernst and Young were on the list. The focus of the live drill was a targeted supply chain attack on a corporation. If a scenario like this happened in real life, it could impact our daily lives by shutting down water treatment facilities, the power grid, or the internet.

Reports have determined that prime targets for cybercriminals have been the Operational Technology (OT) networks, which interconnect the Industrial Control Systems (ICS) that manage our critical infrastructure. As services like power grids, water treatment facilities, transport and healthcare systems increasingly integrate their operational technology systems with the internet of things, this creates a new frontier of risks where millions more vulnerability points and new vectors can be exploited by hackers.

Experts state that these attacks have huge implications not only on businesses, but also on communities, cities, states, and entire countries, and the consequences could be dire.

Here it comes. It appears that once again fear is being used as a tool to further crack down on privacy, punish us with manufactured shortages of practically everything; water, fuel, food, dry goods, more draconian measures for internet use, cryptocurrency, banking, and surveillance.

So, what is their proposed solution?

To establish a consistent approach on IoT security globally by:

• Agreeing on a common global baseline standard on IoT security (differentiating consumer and industrial devices)
• Promoting shared security principles from industry alliances such as the Cyber Tech Accord, Charter of Trust or Paris Call for Trust and Security
• Aligning regulations and baseline device security certification mechanisms
• Developing common principles for digital security and international norms
• Focus not only on the suppliers but also the consumers of IoT technology

Be on the lookout for this growing narrative moving forward. It could be used as yet another reason why citizens around the world need to give up more freedoms and hand them over to our elected officials who have “Our best interests at heart.”

I know what some readers are going to say; this is another conspiracy theory, but as I recall, this is what was said to me when I wrote about certain topics that have come to pass over the last two years.

All I ask you to do is think critically, and keep your eyes open for the writing on the wall.