Signal Cyberwarfare and ransomware increasingly target data infrastructure

Summary

The essay documents how physical and cyber warfare have merged, opening many channels for data contamination and theft. Russia's Sandworm group attacked Ukrainian energy, defence, internet and research targets, and Russia's campaign against critical infrastructure dates back to a 2007 denial-of-service attack on Estonia. The 2017 WannaCry ransomware hit at least 100 countries and more than 200,000 computers, and 65 percent of financial institutions worldwide suffered ransomware attacks between 2021 and 2024. An IBM series shows the average global cost of a data breach rising from 3.86 million dollars in 2018 to 4.88 million dollars in 2024. The author stresses that attacks manipulating data could distort decision systems in key industries, autonomous mobility and collaborative robots.