Today, safeguarding nation-states, organizations, and citizens has less to do with security (cyber and non-cyber) but has everything to do with Survivability.

We are now in the 'Era of the Unprecedented': since 2010, Geo-Poli-Cyber‚Ñ¢ warfare has been increasing in intensity. The motivation of its perpetrators is often driven by political, ideological, ‚Äòreligious‚Äô and extremist objectives, rather than financial gain. Many top decision makers and citizens are unaware of this reality or the implications it has on their sovereignties, businesses, lives and livelihoods, and most do not know how to mitigate it. This trend has seen governments and businesses constantly breached by high-impact cyberattacks, confirming the ineptitude of best in class cyber security strategies, solutions, policies and procedures. Yet, they continue implementing what they know is failing and ineffective.
The 2020 pandemic revealed a fundamental flaw in many Western democratic nations; their failure to appropriately prepare for a threat they knew was coming and the cost of this in human lives. This pandemic has shed light on the weaknesses of the current international order and economic, political, legal and democratic models and structures that enable it. It has also called into question the capacity of existing cyber security protocols and designs to protect nations, companies and citizens.

The question remains: are governments ready for cyber terrorism, election meddling, fake news and the malicious use of artificial intelligence and quantum computing? How about them all happening at the same time? Survivability provides potential answers to this and other pressing concerns.

Khaled Fattal

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