One morning, you get out of bed, you switch on the light, and nothing awakens. You open your phone to check the news, and the internet is not available. You open the tap to get water, yet it fails to come. This is not a science fiction movie; this is where the truth crashes, as so-called specialists call it a cyber pandemic, and it is currently happening before our eyes.
As it turns out, we already live it. As the world was fighting COVID-19, hackers were occupied with the launching of what could be called by security experts the most destructive wave in the history of cyberattacks. The figures are mind-blowing: there were 300 percent more attacks in the US only in the nine-month period of the pandemic. In the meantime, over 60 percent of ransomware attacks target critical infrastructure that is at an increasingly higher level of interest.
But now, the million-dollar question is: does the world really have a risk of being shut down by hackers? The brief answer is more troubling than one would presume.
What Is a Cyber Pandemic? Wikipedia Definition and Beyond
The term cyber pandemic was popularised by the World Economic Forum after their eye-opening Cyber Polygon exercise in July 2021. More than 200 organisations in 48 countries were engaged in a simulated cyberattack that took down global supply chains. The findings were appalling.
A cyber pandemic, unlike ordinary pandemics, spread across our networked communication infrastructure. It has three primary attributes, as cybersecurity experts and several definitions of the term found throughout websites, such as Wikipedia, show.
- Immense attacks on key infrastructure such as power facilities, water facilities, and health facilities
- Abuse of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which generate millions of new vulnerability points
- Attacks that are easier to launch by virtue of the large-scale change to remote working
The frightening thing is? This is not our hypothetical future danger, but what we are living with at present.
What Is a Cyber Pandemic 2021: The Year Everything Changed
2021 became one of the historical points in cybersecurity. This was the time when the idea of a cyber pandemic went truly into theory and gruesome reality. I would like to tell you a tale that illustrates how tangible this menace got.
Another giant fuel Colonial Pipeline in America went on its knees in May 2021 as a gang of hackers called DarkSide attacked the system. A ruptured pipeline along the Colonial pipeline that serves 45 percent of the fuel on the East Coast had to close totally within a span of six days. Gas stations were out of gas, airlines were unable to fuel their aircraft, and there was panic buying in many states.
The hackers did not decide to make direct attacks on the operations system of the pipeline; they just broke into the IT network of the company, took 100 gigabytes of information, and offered to pay a ransom. To restore their systems online, the company was paying about 4.4 million in Bitcoin.
However, that is only one of the examples in 2021. Those are not the only red flags:
The WannaCry Wake-Up Call (2017)
A malware attack that in four days saw 230,000 computers in 150 countries infected by it, and estimates showed that the damage resulted in losses of up to 4 billion dollars. In the UK, hospitals were forced to cancel operations and refuse patients due to the fact that computer systems were totally blocked.
Water Crisis in Israel (2020)
The water treatment facilities in Israel had their IoT systems attacked by hackers, who tried to use them to control the amount of chlorine in the systems to dangerous levels. Had it succeeded, this would have been dangerous enough to contaminate the supply of water for tens of thousands of people.
The events demonstrate that hackers are no longer seeking information on the credit cards that citizens are using. They are attacking the same infrastructure that has kept our society running.
What Is a Cyber Pandemic 2022: Escalation and Evolution
The cyber pandemic remained even more advanced in 2022, as its attackers are more advanced and daring. The Russia-Ukraine conflict showed the world how cyber warfare could be combined with conventional military actions, and this is an indication to the world on how modern warfare would be conducted.
During 2022, we witnessed:
- An increase in international cyberattacks by 38 percent
- High-tech versions of the supply chain attack in the software providers
- Greater focus on renewable energy infrastructure targeting
- The rise of the business models of ransomware-as-a-service
There is one rather alarming example that happened in 2022, and this is the story of a friend who works in the energy industry. In the security audit, they found that someone had been creeping into their systems over eight months and had been mapping out their networks and securing vital exposures. She calls that the scary part, she said to me, to have been caught in, and caught in, and to have been in this house night after night without being discovered.
Cyber Pandemic 2025: Current Threats and Emerging Challenges
Many years later, as we traverse 2025, the cyber pandemic has reached a new level of more advanced and intensive sophistication. Recent developments indicate that the attackers currently are using artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve the efficiency of their attacks and automate the process.
The highlights of 2025 will be the following:
- Phishing using artificial intelligence is able to generate highly personalized attacks
- The risk of quantum computing to modern encryption. The threat of quantum computing to modern encryption
- The vulnerabilities of the 5G network that give way to novel spheres of attack
- The development of smart city infrastructure (which becomes enemy number one among nation-state actors)
The Internet of Things has brought about a revolution in our lives and in the workplace, yet it also has its cost. Anybody who is in the same chain as the hackers is a gateway to the hackers. Consider the fact that you have millions of doors to your house, and the fewer the doors you have, the easier it will be to lock them all up.
World Economic Forum Cyber Pandemic 2025: Response and Coordination
The World Economic Forum still drives the agenda in the middle of the worldwide preparation to deal with a cyber pandemic in 2025. Their recent efforts are aimed at developing global systems of cybersecurity and response systems.
Cybersecurity is on the 2025 agenda of the WEF, which stresses:
- International cyber resilience standards of critical infrastructure
- International incident response protocols to transnational attacks
- Threat intelligence share mechanisms based on the public-private partnership
- Cyber training course to fill the workforce shortage trend in cybersecurity. Courses
The most innovative one can be the Global Cyber Resilience Index developed by WEF, at which countries are rated according to the extent of their resilience against and the capability of recovering from large-scale cyberattacks.
What Would Happen in a Cyber Pandemic: Worst-Case Scenarios
The important thing about preparation for a full-scale cyber pandemic is understanding what will occur. Allow me to describe to you what would be the situation security analysts believe would be the worst-case scenario.
Day 1: The Initial Strike
- Power grids in major cities begin failing due to coordinated attacks on SCADA systems
- Banking systems go offline, preventing electronic transactions
- Communication networks become unreliable as cell towers lose power
Day 3: Cascading Failures
- Hospitals switch to emergency power but struggle with patient record systems
- Water treatment facilities can’t maintain proper chemical balances
- Traffic management systems fail, causing transportation systems to come to a halt
Week 1: Social Impact
- Supply chains collapse as logistics systems remain offline
- Food shortages begin in urban areas
- Civil unrest increases as basic services remain unavailable
Month 1: Economic Collapse
- Global markets crash due to inability to process transactions
- Unemployment skyrockets as businesses can’t operate
- International trade comes to a standstill
This is no scare-mongering: the idea is true, based on tabletop exercises carried out by government offices and security firms.
How to Prepare for a Cyber Pandemic: Individual Protection Strategies
Everyone lives in a highly interconnected world, so it is important to know how to prepare yourselves against a cyber pandemic. This is a step-by-step guide as to what to do as an individual:
Step 1: Secure Your Digital Life
- Rename all the smart devices’ default user names and passwords
- Create hard and unique passwords with letters, numbers, and symbols
- Where possible, be able to enable two-factor authentication
- Update firmware on all the devices regularly
Step 2: Create Physical Backups
- Keep important documents on paper form
- Maintain liquidity (banks could be switched off)
- Have your emergency kit at the ready, and it contains water, food, and medicines.
- Have a battery-powered or hand generator radio to make emergency communication.
Step 3: Build Network Resilience
- Provide a guest network to be used by visitors
- Encrypt your Wi-Fi network with the WPA3 encryption
- Upgrade your router’s firmware regularly
- Invest in a Faraday cage of vital electronics
Step 4: Develop Alternative Communication Plans
- Set up meeting places with the family members
- Find out how to communicate using ham radio or other non-Internet protocols as a means of communication
- Volunteer in local emergency preparedness organizations
- Develop community networks of communication
Cyber Pandemic 2025 Predictions: What Experts Forecast
Major cybersecurity analysts have issued some cyber pandemic 2025 predictions that we have to worry about:
Prediction 1: Automation of Attacks Using AI In late 2025, analysts estimate that artificial intelligence will allow attackers to scale to new levels of reconnaissance, scanning, and exploit capabilities.
Prediction 2: Disruption in Quantum Computing. Because of the potential to disrupt encryption, Quantum computers can start breaking the existing system of encryption and will need the cybersecurity infrastructure to be overhauled in total.
Prediction 3: Supply Chain Attacks Evolution. The evolution of attacks on software supply chains will expose a large number of devices potentially infected after being affected by one vendor.
Prediction 4: Critical Infrastructure Convergence. As systems of infrastructure increasingly come into contact, attackers can find ways to take down several systems in one blow at the same time.
The last thing I talked to a cybersecurity researcher about was that he put it this way, We are developing a house of cards in cyberspace. Every new relationship gives us more efficiency, but also makes us more vulnerable. A single strike can destroy the whole building.”
Building Business Resilience Against Cyber Pandemics
For businesses, preparing for a cyber pandemic requires a comprehensive approach:
Step 1: Conduct Regular Security Assessments
- Do vulnerability testing to determine weak points
- Apply network segmentation to restrict a possible attack
- Create and practice incident response plans
Step 2: Employee Training and Awareness
- Send required cybersecurity education to every worker
- Rollout phishing exercises
- Develop standard procedures of reporting suspicious activities
Step 3: Invest in Advanced Security Solutions
- Consider acquiring a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
- Use zero-trust architecture
- Deploy endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions
The Economic Impact: When Cyber Becomes Reality
The cost of the cyber pandemic is out of this world economically. Cybercrime damages are anticipated to hit the sum of $10.5 trillion yearly by 2025, compared to the present rate of $3 trillion in 2015. It is better than the GDP of most nations.
It is not all about money, though. The loss of human lives when critical infrastructure is hacked is massive. In hospitals, the critical services experience downtimes, and this may be a matter of life and death to the patients. The impact of compromised water treatment facilities can be wide-ranging in entire communities. Millions of people can be stranded due to the breakdown of transportation networks.
Think about the following story: A friend of mine in one of the largest UK hospitals refrained from telling me about the WannaCry attack, which is why it took them several weeks to get back to using patient records on paper. Critical surgeries got postponed, and ambulances were being directed to other hospitals. As she said, it felt as though we had been transported to the 1980s, “only this time the lives of the patients were on the line.”
Government and International Response Strategies
Being aware of the threat posed by the issue, all governments take action to address it. In the United States, the act was signed into law in 2020 as the IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act, which required federal agencies to uphold a high level of security on IoT devices.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has come up with expansive policies that are slowly becoming the gold standards of cybersecurity practices. Such standards are not only imposed upon government agencies, but many privately owned firms are taking them too.
In the meantime, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) has issued detailed guidelines for securing the IoT supply chain and is working on particular security measures for sectors providing critical infrastructure.
Activities related to international cooperation are:
- Cyber Tech Accord of private sector cooperation
- Charter of Trust in industrial cybersecurity
- Paris Call for Trust and Security in the Global Cyber Norms
Building Resilience: The Path Forward
Can the world be shut down by hackers then? Yes, technically, they are able to create mass havoc on the critical infrastructure that would affect millions of people. But should they be able to? Not the issue. The question is, will we allow them?
The success in the avoidance of a global cyber catastrophe can be achieved through the development of cyber resilience. This means:
- International collaboration over cybersecurity standards development
- Coming up with sound backup mechanisms for important infrastructure
- Establishing redundancies in the sense that failure of one system will be serviced by the other systems
- Developing an efficient cybersecurity strategy to protect against attacks
- The idea of exchanging threat intelligence to develop the concept of public-private partnership
Your Role in Preventing a Cyber Apocalypse
Everyone and every organization has to play their part in order not to turn cyberpandemic into a cyber apocalypse. The onset of good security decisions would build a better digital environment, as we maintain a good security practice, know the latest threats, and focus our intentions on ensuring that we bolster our security in the cyber converge.
I am aware that cybersecurity is not the problem of IT only, and it is the problem of all of us. The digital infrastructure is so well connected at present that a vulnerable point in one system can easily affect millions of systems.
The stakes keep getting higher as we further digitalize more areas of our lives, ranging from smart cities to autonomous vehicles. It is not whether we are facing more sophisticated cyber-attacks; it is whether we will be prepared to endure them.
Cyber pandemic is real, and here it is. However, by preparing well, collaborating among the different countries, and by each and every one being vigilant, we will be able to create an innovative yet secure digital world. The choice is ours, and this time of decision is now.
Conclusion: Preparing for Tomorrow’s Threats Today
The initial step towards becoming resilient to this ever-increasing threat is to understand what is a cyber pandemic. The cyber pandemic is one of the phenomena that has become one of the greatest problems of our digital era. Although it is technically true that hackers could shut down the world, it will be up to all of us to ensure that they fail in shutting it down.
We can only develop this resilience by knowing the threats, having strong security systems, and collaborating across the sectors and across the borders. Our digital civilization tomorrow will rely on what we are doing today.
Ahsan Ali is a technology blogger and the founder of Techzivo.com, a platform dedicated to delivering insightful and practical content for tech enthusiasts.He currently focuses on creating in-depth articles around cybersecurity, aiming to help readers stay safe and informed in the digital world. With a passion for emerging technologies, Ahsan plans to expand Techzivo’s coverage into other technology micro-niches such as AI, cloud computing, and digital privacy, offering valuable insights for a broader tech-savvy audience.