Cyber Pandemic: Western nations are prepping for a “cyber pandemic” that would shut down power and the internet

This week, thousands of Cubans took to the streets to express their frustration with the authoritarian regime. In response, the Cuban Communist government on Monday shut down social media and messaging apps, making it impossible for people to share videos and information about what is going on the tiny island.

The Cuban Communist government later shut down power and the internet so its citizens cannot communicate to the outside world. Coincidentally, Western nations are prepping for a “cyber pandemic” that would shut down power and the internet. If there is one lesson to learn from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it is that governments around the world were caught off-guard, unprepared, and did not see the virus coming.  That’s why The World Economic Forum (WEF), which consists of teams from over forty countries are prepping for the “Cyber Pandemic.”

On Friday, The World Economic Forum (WEF) announced it has kicked off its annual Cyber Polygon exercise which gives companies and governments the opportunity to participate in a simulation of a “Cyber Pandemic.”

According to the announcement, the focus of this year’s live drill is 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. WEF said that 200 teams from 48 countries are participating in this year’s worldwide training exercise.

Just like last year’s cyber pandemic simulation, this year’s Cyber Polygon will hold live training exercises responding to “a targeted supply chain attack on a corporate ecosystem in real-time.”

Running parallel to the training exercise, the WEF said there will be discussions on how to tackle everything from ransomware and supply chain attacks to implementing “resilient” digital currencies, and a desire for global governance on the internet.

“We all know, but still pay insufficient attention to, the frightening scenario of a comprehensive cyber attack, which would bring a complete halt to the power supply, transportation, hospital services, our society as a whole” — Klaus Schwab, WEF, 2020

The WEF also added, “Unless action is taken now, by 2025 next-generation technology, on which the world will increasingly rely, has the potential to overwhelm the defenses of the global security community. Without these interventions, it will be difficult to maintain integrity and trust in the emerging technology on which future global growth depends.”

Below is a video overview of the event.