LONDON, (Reuters) – Attacks on computer systems now have the potential to cause global catastrophe, but only in combination with another disaster, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in a report yesterday.
The study, part of a wider OECD project examining possible “Future Global Shocks” such as a failure of the world’s financial system or a large-scale pandemic, said there were very few single “cyber events” that could cause a global shock.
Examples were a successful attack on one of the technical protocols on which the Internet depends, or a large solar flare that wiped out key communications components such as satellites.
But it said a combination of events such as coordinated cyber attacks, or a cyber incident occurring during another form of disaster, should be a serious concern for policy makers.
“In that eventuality, ‘perfect storm’ conditions could exist,” said the report, written by Professor Peter Sommer of the London School of Economics and Dr Ian Brown of Britain’s Oxford University.
Governments are increasingly emphasising the importance of cyber security.
