Cyberattacks decaying Western economies, expert warns

Orange Cyberdefense's recent analysis said that cyber extortion is exploding

The global cyber environment has become a “society wide crisis”, where a recent slew of attacks are threatening the foundation of Western economies, an expert has warned.

A year-long avalanche of detrimental attacks on British retailers; Co-op, M&S, and more recently, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR); has pointed to a far deeper concern, Charl van der Walt, head of security research at Orange Cyberdefense, told City AM.

Cybercrime, he argued, has become industrialised. Attackers are only multiplying. And trust, in both the private and public sectors, has become the primary target.

A shifting cyber space

The biggest emerging threat is the so-called “balkanisation”, or state fragmentation, of the cyberspace.

Van der W