The Second Internet Era is Here and it's Not Pretty

By James McFarlin

The world has turned. Corporate boards everywhere are suddenly demanding top-priority attention be given to the now-soaring business risks from cyberattacks. Over the past few months – virtually overnight in today’s era of instant everything – the rules and risks of living in today’s digital-powered environment have changed forever.

I forewarned of this looming eventuality in my September 7th, 2013 post, “Will 2013 be the Year Cybersecurity Crashes the Party in the Boardroom?”

Less than a year later, predictions have become reality.

When Will U.S. Cyber Alarms Match Its Cyber Threats?

by James McFarlin

Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright recently stated “the world is a mess.” And indeed it is. From Russia’s stoking of a war of insurrection in the Ukraine to the Israel-Hamas war to conflicts in Syria, Iraq and throughout much of the Middle East and North Africa, large swaths of the world are at war.

But it is instructive to place such events in perspective. In spite of the significant dangers they pose, these conflicts offer but a prelude to even the greater threat to America’s national security which emanate from the increasing worldwide proliferation of cyber weapons.

Why? Because these conflicts, no matter how loud, are still like distant thunder; in the world of cyberattacks ground zero is America’s critical infrastructures and ultimately, our way of life.