Cybersecurity experts are issuing a stark warning about the heightened risk of cyber threats to critical infrastructure in the coming year. Raluca Saceanu, organiser of cybersecurity event Zero Day Con is voicing concern as she predicts cybercrime will become an integral component of warfare in 2024.
This kind of ‘hybrid warfare’ could see nations leverage conventional and digital capabilities to maximise the impact on targets of their military actions. The approach would bring the added challenge of figuring out who’s behind an attack, as third party threat actors may be hired to carry out the cybercrime element of a campaign.
Raluca - who is also CEO of Smarttech247 - is warning that critical infrastructure sites could be highly vulnerable in such a scenario: “We have seen alarming trends in the past year, where nation states are increasingly suspected of deploying cyber assaults on military and civilian infrastructure. A major concern is that, once it breaches a system, malware can remain dormant and undetected until hackers decide to activate it and by then, it’s too late to avoid the consequences.
Against this backdrop, and the fact that major global events such as elections are scheduled for 2024, It’s vital that nations implement stringent cybersecurity controls in the energy, transportation, and healthcare sectors in the current environment. Their importance in our everyday lives could make them attractive to state actors who would exploit any vulnerabilities to disrupt services, cause economic damage or even inflict harm on people.”
Geopolitical dynamics and cybersecurity will be high on the agenda at Zero Day Con next March. The event gathers cybersecurity experts from the public and private sectors, law enforcement, advocacy groups and academia from Ireland and abroad. Speakers and delegates in 2024 will discuss emerging technologies, the evolving threat landscape and geopolitical complexities under the theme of ‘Evolve - enter into the new era of building Cyber Resilience’.
Speakers on the lineup so far include representatives of the FBI, Richard Browne, Director of Ireland’s National Cyber Security Centre, Chip Regan, CISO at Autonation, America’s largest and most recognised automotive retailer, Margaret Corrigan, CISO at Clunetech and many more. Zero Day Con will be staged at the Dublin Convention Centre on the sixth of March next with thanks to Smarttech247 and Threatlocker. An early bird registration discount is currently available, along with full event details, viazerodaycon.com
