The growing dependence on interconnected digital systems has transformed cyber infrastructure into one of the fundamental pillars of the global economy. However, this connectivity also revealed critical vulnerabilities. According to a report by IBM, in 2023, the average cost of a data breach reached a record of US$ 4,45 million, reinforcing the financial impact of errors and attackshackers.
In recent years, the world witnessed a series of incidents harmful to companies and users. In July, a failure in one of CrowdStrike's security systems affected 8,5 million computers worldwide. In 2022, the attack on Colonial Pipeline, in the United States, paralyzed a significant part of the operations of the largest pipeline network in the country, interrupting the fuel supply and generating a temporary crisis
Incidents like these, in addition to causing billion-dollar financial losses, compromise personal and strategic information, highlighting the urgency of robust cybersecurity strategies. The question that arises now is no longer whether a collapse will occur, butwhenandhoworganizations are preparing to reduce the impacts of the upcoming cyber blackout
Cyber 'blackouts' not only jeopardize business operations, but also expose governments to vulnerabilities, interrupting critical services and compromising sensitive data, analysis Guilherme Barbosa, Systems Engineer of Unentel, distributor of technological solutions for the B2B market. The specialist warns that attacks ofransomwareand failures in critical systems, like that of CrowdStrike, they can trigger real global blackouts if not addressed with robust cybersecurity approaches.
To face this challenge, it is urgent to adopt preventive measures. With digitalization, the global economy has become heavily dependent on cloud computing, focusing on an increasingly smaller number of providers of these services; but to thediversification of technology suppliersreduces the dependence on a single point of failure, while thecreation of incident response plansensures that, in case of attack, that operations can be resumed quickly.
Furthermore, investment in advanced technologies, howartificial intelligence for anomaly detectionandcryptography systemsenhanced, are essential to protect sensitive data. Thecontinuous training of teamsit is essential, ensuring that employees are trained to identify and deal with threats, implementing effective cybersecurity practices
Diversifying suppliers and adopting robust incident response plans are the first actions that companies and governments should take to mitigate the impacts of a cyber blackout. Although the risk is concrete, "gravity can be significantly minimized with efficient information exchange and a swift response to large-scale attacks", finalizes Guilherme
