Cyberspace.. Where is the world headed?

In light of the penetration of digital communication technology and its entry into most sectors of life, and due to the wide spread of the World Wide Web in our human lives after the number of Internet users worldwide has increased as of this writing to approximately 4.95 billion people, according to 2022 statistics, and this number is approximately equivalent 62% of the world's total population, and there are more than 1.83 billion websites globally in 2021.

The Internet has witnessed rapid growth over the past three decades, which has led to the conception of a new dimension of communication as a representation of cyberspace, which is one of the most important achievements of modern man, as a new means of communication arising from cosmically interconnected computers, and this space can be described as the virtual environment that it developed. Computing systems and the users who interact within them, or if we want to say it is a field characterized by the interrelated use of the electromagnetic spectrum and electrons, the goal of which is to build, modify, exchange, use, share, preserve, dispose of, and disable physical resources.

In the past six months alone, cyberattacks globally have increased by 29% as actors continue to exploit the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. Groups using ransomware tactics have entered a golden age with the use of extortion increasing at an accelerating rate of over 90% in less than a year.

One of the channels through which cyberspace influences global politics is the new challenges it poses to international security, namely in the form of two hostile processes: cyberespionage and attacks and cybercrime.

Electronic espionage can perform the function of extracting sensitive and protected information, either for the purpose of industrial espionage or to obtain government secrets.

According to current estimates, industrial cyber espionage costs the US economy $300 billion annually, Germany $71 billion, and South Korea $82 billion, while 86% of large Canadian companies have been victims of industrial cyber espionage at some point.

In terms of cyber-attacks and crimes, cyber threats have become more dangerous, especially during the last decade of this century, and they are happening at a faster and faster rate. Some statistics related to this issue for the year 2022 show us the seriousness of what is happening.

85% of cybersecurity breaches are caused by human error, 94% of malware occurs through email, ransomware attacks occur every 10 seconds, and 71% of all cyberattacks have financial motives (followed by Intellectual property theft, then espionage), and statistics estimate the annual global cost of cybercrime at more than $10.5 trillion by 2025.

And the future of cybercrime appears to be bleaker than ever. Research from Cybersecurity Ventures shows that the damage caused annually by ransomware can cost businesses $265 billion worldwide, with an attack rate every 10. seconds for businesses and consumers.

In just the past 6 months, cyberattacks have increased globally by 29% as actors continue to exploit the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, and groups using ransomware tactics have entered a golden age with the use of extortion increasing at an accelerated rate of over 90% in less than a year. .

The global leader in cybersecurity, Trend Micro Incorporated, according to its recently released new report, indicates scenarios that show what the world will look like in the next decade, and how the security sector will deal with the advanced innovations of cybercrime.

The report - which bears the name "Project 2030" - states that by 2030, Internet connectivity will affect all aspects of our daily lives, both physically and psychologically, and that cyber threat actors will develop their malicious mechanism of action and misuse technological innovations.

One of the highlights of the report's expectations is that artificial intelligence tools will contribute to the democratization of cybercrime because data will be available to everyone, not just to IT professionals, attacks will cause chaos in supply chains, and physical harm to humans through the implantation of cyber tools Social engineering attacks and disinformation are hard to avoid when data becomes more widely available via "head-level data projectors"Huge IoT environments will also attract cybercriminals who will launch their attacks to target the manufacturing sector, logistics, transportation, healthcare, education, retail and the home environment, and since we see connectivity to (5G) and (6G) networks everywhere, this will lead to more sophisticated attacks. Accuracy, as stated in the report, that technological nationalism will become a major geo-strategic tool for a number of the most powerful countries in the world, in light of the widening gap between them and the technologically backward countries.

Undoubtedly, cyberspace has forced countries to recognize it as a new arena for conflict.

For years, experts have warned of a “cyber Pearl Harbor,” or in other words, of a massive digital attack that could cripple critical infrastructure without a shot being fired.

In this sense;

Humanity is facing a constantly evolving and changing cyber landscape, in which the biggest issue of concern appears to be ransomware, which has been described as the number one threat to cybersecurity in 2021.

Data in this field indicate that most of the cyber attacks come from Russia, Brazil and China, which are the first three countries in which the cyber attacks originated, and about the time it takes to detect these attacks is about 280 days, while it takes a typical organization about 197 days to identify the threat, But some violations can avoid detection for a long time.

Returning to the language of numbers, the value of the global cybersecurity market amounted to 156.24 billion dollars in 2020, and it is expected that the value of this market will reach about 352.25 billion dollars, an annual growth rate of 14.5% by 2026, according to the "Murder Intelligence" institution, and it is expected that The value of the global cybersecurity market will reach $433.6 billion by 2030, and studies predict that cybercrime will cost the world nearly $600 billion each year.

Cybercrime will not disappear soon, and it is expected that a greater number of such crimes will grow in the coming years as long as the preferred place worldwide for this category is the web, and the global cybersecurity market will continue to achieve higher growth, and it seems that the costs and damages of cybercrime higher than those caused by natural disasters.

According to these data and numbers, it can be said with more confidence that electronic breaches and cyber attacks in their various forms will be bigger, worse, and more costly in the future, and have a devastating impact on critical infrastructure, especially with the rapid increase in network-connected devices, the spread of smart cities, and the growth of the use of the Internet of Things. Technology, electronic transactions and related applications.

Based on this, it has become of great importance for countries and governments - especially Arab ones - to adopt strategies that enhance their cyber security and to establish units, bodies or research centers specialized in protecting infrastructures from electronic risks, and on top of that is investment in scientific research and raising awareness in this field and in a way that enhances The level of security and keeping pace with modern technology and technologies that would make electronic systems more secure and coherent, and more capable of facing challenges, the most important of which are the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence applications of all kinds.

The issue of protecting cyberspace is an issue of utmost importance for all of humanity, because this space or this world - if the expression is correct - is now at the service of everyone, and in various fields of life, not limited by geography or hindered by time.

So there is plenty of time left to bury heads in the sand in order to avoid the unknown coming on the wings of the clouds in an infinite and unlimited cyberspace.