State-sponsored hacking emerges as the new arms race

The world appears to be going through a period of rising real-world international tension, what with China and India sabre rattling over territorial claims at their shared border, and North Korea ratcheting up aggressive rhetoric against the South. Ongoing disputes continue to simmer in other regions including Syria, Yemen Hong Kong, and parts of the Middle East, though even more alarming than these infractions is the seeming rise of far less tangible though equally destructive cyber espionage.

It is no exaggeration to say that safeguarding exploding digital environments is one of the single most important undertakings of our time

Australia is the latest county to publicise having become a victim of a type of sophisticated state-sponsored cyber attack, which it described as having been widespread, covering “all levels of government” as well as essential services and businesses. The attacks have occurred over many months and are increasing in scope and sophistication, suggesting it can only have been orchestrated by but a handful of countries around the world that possess the expertise – technical and personnel – to carry out such sustained incidents.

This latest incident reiterates the fact that national power and security can no longer be defined exclusively by the number of soldiers, tanks, or physical weapons a country possesses, but rather by its understanding and mastery of digital tool and capabilities.

Superpowers of the future are being formulated now, based on a nation’s access to and use of digital assets. Given the growing criticality of digital information, information systems, and the interconnectivity of everything, cyber resilience at an individual, corporate, and national level must be viewed as a central tenet of national development and sustainable prosperity.  

It is no exaggeration to say that safeguarding exploding digital environments is one of the single most important undertakings of our time. An end-to-end, perpetual, pro-active, and resilience-oriented approach to securing digitisation at all levels is foremost, and will likely define societies that prosper in the future from those that won’t.

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