We can expect simultaneous failure for weeks of “power, the Internet, cash machines, broadcast media, traffic lights, financial systems, and air traffic software” which is included in a report from the National Intelligence Council (NIC) entitled “Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds.” The NIC report also includes these observations:
Current trends suggest that deep interconnectivity between different software systems and devices is likely to become the norm, enabling remote access to all kinds of systems that are offline today.
More and more everyday actions will have a digital component— boarding a bus, buying groceries, entering a meeting room.
As societies become more dependent on software and systems become more interconnected, the potential levels of damage that cyberweapons will be able to inflict will increase.
The report also describes how Social Media impact cyber threats:
Cyber power may be as important off the battlefield in terms of the ability of information technology enabling the emergence of networked social movements that can create large economic, political, and security effects.
The potential opened up by information technology is for future “do-it-yourself” revolutions conducted by networked social movements that employ information technologies which communicate and collaborate with like-minded individuals.
Since cyber threats are front page news today it is little wonder about where cyber threats are headed, so it is essential that government use this advice to help protect citizens from cyber disasters.