Pages

1 June 2024

Concerns raised over geopolitical cyber warfare

Joanne Carew

The individual decisions we make when it comes to cybersecurity – both personally and professionally – can have far reaching geopolitical implications. This is according to Victoria Baines, professor of IT at Gresham College, London, who was speaking at the ITWeb Security Summit in Cape Town, on Tuesday.

With this sentiment in mind, Baines asked the audience if they felt that popular platforms like WhatsApp and TikTok could be considered national security threats or instruments for cyber warfare.

“I would argue that the answer to this question very much depends on your perspective,” she said.

“I would also argue that what we in our industry have traditionally conceived of as cyber threats is becoming a lot broader.”

During her address, Baines unpacked various examples of how different nation states – from China and Iran to Russia and North Korea – are actively involved in and sponsoring cyber activity, from misinformation campaigns, election interference and attacks on critical infrastructure to the stealing of state secrets.

No comments:

Post a Comment