Digital economy and related threats

The digital economy refers to the wide range of economic activities and commercial transactions that take place through IT. The digital economy has been growing partly due to the evolution of some part of the traditional economy to this type of economy. This makes it quite hard to draw a distinct line between what remains as the traditional economy and what is to be referred to as the digital economy. Many organizations have adopted information technology to enable them to run their processes faster, more efficiently, and with competitiveness. Individuals are also part of this economy, since they are engaging in tasks and transactions that they couldn't participate in previously. New technology is causing more people and organizations to join this economy. The addition of IoT, big data analytics, the cloud, wireless networks, and social media networks has continued to pull more people into this economy.

However, cyber threats exist in this economy. Without physical intrusion and theft, this economy can be sabotaged using technology similar to what powers it. Particularly, it has been said that this economy might cease to grow if the security to protect it isn't adequate. This economy is fragile and cyber threats have been marked as its greatest challenges. A single cyber threat can bring it to stagnation. Over the last few years, there has been a growth on the cyber threats that face this economy. Some attacks have shown the capability to bring the digital economy to its knees. It seems that the threats facing this economy are only getting more advanced. The following are some of threat trends facing the digital economy.

Smart threats

With the proliferation of IoT and cloud-connected devices, a new breed of cyber threat is emerging. There are now smart threats developed to target devices which are interconnected using the IoT technology and also the cloud. Since IoT devices are still fresh in the economy, they are being targeted more because they haven't yet been hardened to the threats that exist on the internet. IoT devices connect to the internet just like many other devices, but their security features are lacking, thus they are sitting ducks for hackers. The cloud is also seeing massive adoption from companies. This is a new frontier where hackers have moved their expertise to. The cloud is not the same as local servers, where organizations can closely monitor the security of their applications and sensitive information. If a wave of successful attacks sweeps through major cloud vendors, massive losses will be witnessed.

Ransomware

Hackers have already demonstrated that they can topple the digital economy using a single ransomware. The WannaCry ransomware attack serves as a basis for this statement. The attack was waged globally as it affected over 150 countries. Experts have said that if it hadn't been for the sloppiness of the coder of the ransomware, an end to the attack wouldn't have been found in time to prevent a global-scale panic. Within just 24 hours, this single ransomware caused huge loses to companies, deaths in hospitals, loss of individuals files, and other types of losses. Ransomware still remains a severe threat to the digital economy after that demonstration. It's estimated that ransomware threats have been growing and this should be of concern to the economy.

The following is the screen presented by WannaCry after encrypting a computer:

Critical infrastructure attacks

A perilous attack landscape for the digital economy is critical infrastructures. Countries are increasingly automating critical infrastructures that provide services to the masses. These infrastructures can be attacked, putting a stop to the critical services that they offer. For instance, the WannaCry ransomware attack of 2017 crippled the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. Hospital systems were affected to a point where medical appointments and surgeries had to be postponed until the attack was resolved.