What would happen if all the cybersecurity specialists in the world disappeared?

Hello! My name is Roman Panin, I am the head of information security architecture at MTS. Today we will talk about what will happen if there are no cybersecurity specialists left in the world. There will be a serious threat not only to the IT world, but also to all humanity that benefits from information technology.

Web services, IT systems, mobile applications, company infrastructure, energy and oil refining control centers, user data, secret documents and everything that has ever been digitized will be affected.

There will be no one to build information security systems, improve and adapt them to current threats from cybercriminals. In the event of an attack in real time, there will be no one who can resist and try to prevent the invasion.

Hacker groups will be able to more effectively attack computer systems, steal confidential information, and conduct large-scale cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, which can lead to catastrophic consequences for society.

Key threats

In order to understand how the world can change, I propose to start from the security threats that surround us every day.

Business and companies

Here it would be fair to mention DDoS or any other attacks aimed at company resources, such as websites, web services, public APIs, external security perimeter or mobile applications through which the business provides services to customers.

Now all this is protected by various security tools, but if there is no one to maintain them, then all of the above-mentioned resources can be hacked on the same day when hacker groups turn their attention to them. As a result, not only the company’s business and profit margins may suffer, but also user data, which can be accessed by attackers.

You also need to understand that the larger the company, the more people it employs, and the greater its infrastructure and the number of services/products. All this inevitably increases the attack surface and the value of the resources stored inside the security loop, which only fuels the interest of hackers and other ill-wishers.

Threats from the world of ordinary citizens

Ordinary people who do not even know about the existence of cybersecurity are exposed to a number of dangers from the outside world. Phishing and other social engineering, infection of personal devices through malware, use of leaked personal data to cause damage in real life – all these are real threats.

Also, do not forget that humanity is developing and continues to surround itself with automation and technology wherever possible. This means that the world of the Internet of Things (IoT) is expanding, which entails new risks of such devices being hacked and used by attackers for wiretapping, surveillance and information theft.

Now people are protected by the security mechanisms that were put into websites, mobile applications and devices by the very specialists who, according to our theory, may disappear. And, if this happens, then ordinary citizens will have to cope with the threats that surround them in the modern world.

Municipal institutions

In addition to commercial companies, there are also those that are created and exist not for financial gain, but to ensure the livelihoods of states and people.

This applies to various hospitals, energy and educational sectors, etc. Unfortunately, some hacker groups do not consider it shameful to target such institutions. Moreover, many of them do not always think about the consequences that a simple blackout of a hospital building or a thermal power plant boiler can cause.

Even now, such institutions do not always pay due attention to cybersecurity issues, but, nevertheless, it is there, and stands guard over our data, lives and the life support of entire cities and states.

State machine

There are also threats at a higher level—the level of government. These are the targets of the most popular APT groups scattered around the world.

In the absence of resistance from security forces, not only citizens and private companies, but also entire countries and their governing bodies may be under attack. If courts, tax authorities and executive authorities begin to fail as a result of targeted attacks, this could plunge the entire population and the lives of civilians into anarchy.

The issue of cyber espionage, control of weapons and strategic plans of the government will also become uncontrollable. And this, in turn, could threaten the entire world balance.

So what will happen

The picture, to put it mildly, is not the most pleasant. Let's take a closer look at exactly how this process will proceed.

Routine cyber attacks

At first everything will be fine, since already configured security systems (such as AntiDDoS, WAF, IDS/IPS, etc.) can partially work in offline mode. Established detection and response rules will cope with ongoing attacks for some time.

However, there is a caveat: not all actions to respond to information security incidents can be automated. So, for example, in the SOC no one will monitor anomaly monitoring and try to understand whether this or that event is an incipient cyber attack.

Well, if someone tries to penetrate inside the company’s perimeter or otherwise harm it, then there will simply be no one to isolate network segments, reset access, rebalance the load and carry out other procedures to solve the problem.

After everything is over, you will need to understand how the hack occurred, what systems and data it affected, whether the attacker left behind traces, who is to blame, and how to avoid all this in the future. And since there are no longer cybersecurity specialists in our world, there will simply be no one to fully investigate the incident.

Exploitation of new vulnerabilities and protection against 0day

More and more new ones will appear gradually zero day vulnerabilities, which there will simply be no one to close. All current technologies will be filled with new security holes, making them unusable and unusable on the current infrastructure.

Yes, software manufacturers will release security updates for their products, but it will no longer be possible to do this as correctly and quickly as before. This will lead to vulnerabilities accumulating and reproducing, and businesses will suffer colossal losses.

Additionally, without cybersecurity experts, the likelihood of leaks, theft, and misuse of sensitive information will increase significantly.

Chaos and anarchy

The lack of experienced specialists will increase the risk of attacks on critical infrastructure, such as water supply, energy, and transport systems, which can lead to serious consequences for society.

At some point, this will also affect government authorities, making it very difficult or even impossible to manage all services and processes at the country level. It is then that hacker groups will begin to rule the roost, dictating their terms and receiving maximum powers from companies and governments to control the entire world.

This can lead to people giving up technology, smartphones, computers and even the Internet, as all this will do more harm than good. Here we will begin to roll back to previous stages of the evolution of technology, infrastructure and processes, which will make life more difficult, but safer.

Conclusion

Comfort of life and a feeling of security every day are important to us, although we don’t think about it so often when we’re in our comfort zone. But given the fact that technology has penetrated very deeply into our lives, more and more companies are transforming towards IT, and people surround themselves with more and more gadgets, ensuring the security of all of the above is literally necessary in order for us to continue to improve our lives and move forward.

In this article, I have outlined just a few of the consequences of the lack of cybersecurity professionals, which clearly demonstrate the importance of this area for the entire industry (and the whole world) and once again highlight the importance of supporting and developing professionals in this field.