Hello World!
If you thought I would be talking about the Kaseya supply chain attack, well… If you haven’t read about it yet do a quick google but there is enough already out there about it.
I wanted to talk about contingency plans, well, one particular contingency plan that I feel might be overlooked. I’m talking about solar flares.
What is a solar flare you may ask, well as I don’t study the sun and I assume you don’t either, it is basically a big ejection of charged particles caused by magnetic stress on the sun. Well, one happened a few days ago and it caused a few problems but nothing major. However experts are warning that bigger flares are likely coming the next few months/years, as the sun follows a predictable cycle of magnetic activity.
This event could have drastic effects on the power infrastructure and possibly go so far as to damage electrical components without adequate shielding, however even at the lower levels it’s enough to cause interference with communications. We are due some big solar storms, a few factors have to fall into place for a “perfect hit” on our planet, but its always certain we will be hit by some. It’s quite possible the biggest cybersecurity event in the next few years won’t be caused by a hack, but a solar flare and its subsequent damage.
“We’re in the stone age of cyber security. Real learning will only come after the 1st major incident.”
AACYBER 