Cyber security and restrained info flows among top 10 risks in 2021
05 January, 2021
Cybersecurity threats and increased restrictions in global info flows are among the 10 top geopolitical dangers in 2021, a consultancy revealed in its latest statement.
As more people function remotely and stay online for much longer due to coronavirus-related restrictions, there will be a rise in people’s contact with cyberattacks, Eurasia Group said in its Top risks 2021 report.
This year will see cyber crimes creating “unprecedented technological and geopolitical risk”, the think-tank predicted.
“Hundreds of millions of folks will work, store, receive an education, and socialize from your home in 2021 … a lot of this activity uses less secure home computers and connections, offering bad actors even more vulnerabilities to exploit,” it said.
The cybersecurity industry is forecast to be worth $363.05 billion in 2025, almost 125 % more than the amount spent last year, regarding to Mordor Intelligence, a research consultancy.
The marketplace is projected to grow at an annual growth rate of 14.5 percent over another five years.
The widespread roll-out of fifth-generation technology and a rise in the number of connected devices increase opportunities for cyber criminals, the report said.
“There is no broadly accepted industry standard for ensuring low-cost, commodity devices are secure and regularly updated to protect against hacking,” it added.
There are also not any rules for governments and the private sector globally setting out-state behavior on the net, leading to countries and companies counting on "unproven strategies such as for example targeted economic sanctions and 'naming and shaming'".
Mistrust in the online sphere could also result in a “slowdown or halt” in the no cost flow of sensitive data around borders that could raise charges for businesses, the article added, leading to friction for popular software and digital business versions.
Although the risks commence with the US and China, they don't end now there, Eurasia Group said, as governments globally become increasingly worried about who is accessing their citizens' data.
The outgoing US administration’s attempts to ban the favorite Chinese smartphone software TikTok and WeChat, coupled with India’s movements to blacklist a large number of Chinese apps, risk exacerbating what is seen as a damaging trend.
“When the world’s most important economy [the US] and its own most populous democracy [India] make an effort to ban apps of these considerations, it encourages different countries to do the same.
“Authorities around the world have become increasingly preoccupied that their citizens’ personal info could fall in to the hands of adversaries who also could make utilization of it to boost their AI [artificial intelligence] algorithms, influence public judgment, or commit blackmail.”
Other risks highlighted add a divided US, climate transformation, the ongoing US-China trade dispute, the lasting ramifications of Covid-19 and the consequences of low oil prices over countries in the centre East.
The push for net-zero emissions targets will generate 'enormous' options for private capital, but the greatest winners and losers will be determined as many by political factors as industry forces, the article warned.
The renewable energy sphere could approach from a location "of global cooperation to an arena of global competition", as the US competes with China immediately in clean technology sectors such as for example batteries and power control systems.
"Some elements of the clean strength supply chain should come in bifurcation pressures not unlike those observed in 5G, particularly where in fact the security of ever-more sophisticated grids is engaged," the report said.
Although 2021 started with confident news on Covid-19 vaccines, the pandemic will leave a “legacy of high debt, displaced employees and shed trust”, it said.
Energy-producing countries in the Middle East and North Africa faced a collapse in global energy demand on 2020, which left left governments from Algeria to Iran facing dollars shortfalls and weakened economies as well as they had a need to handle health crises.
Energy prices will probably remain low this year, the record said, keeping the pressure on governments in some countries which were already facing instability before Covid-19 struck.
“Many will slash spending, damaging nascent private sectors and fuelling unemployment.”
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
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