Technology

Cyber pandemic prepping: Cyber Polygon 2021 to tackle ransomware, supply chains, digital currencies & global internet regulation

Is the World Economic Forum’s anticipated cyber pandemic already upon us? perspective

The Cyber Polygon 2021 agenda is out, and discussions will focus on ransomware, supply chain attacks, and digital currencies, with one of the desired outcomes being “international regulation on the net.”

Following up on last year’s cyber pandemic simulation, this year’s Cyber Polygon will hold live training exercises responding to “a targeted supply chain attack on a corporate ecosystem in real time.”

Running parallel to the training exercise will be discussions on how to tackle everything from ransomware and supply chain attacks to implementing “resilient” digital currencies, and a desire for global governance on the internet.

“We all know, but still pay insufficient attention to, the frightening scenario of a comprehensive cyber attack, which would bring a complete halt to the power supply, transportation, hospital services, our society as a whole” — Klaus Schwab, WEF, 2020

In his opening remarks at Cyber Polygon 2020, World Economic Forum (WEF) Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab warned about a coming “cyber pandemic” that would be worse than the current global crisis.

“We all know, but still pay insufficient attention to, the frightening scenario of a comprehensive cyber attack, which would bring a complete halt to the power supply, transportation, hospital services, our society as a whole,” he said.

“The COVID-19 crisis would be seen in this respect as a small disturbance in comparison to a major cyber attack.”

Schwab added that it was “important to use the COVID-19 crisis as a timely opportunity to reflect on the lessons of cybersecurity community to draw and improve our unpreparedness for a potential cyber pandemic.”

Fast forward a year, and Schwab’s words ring prophetic as ransomware attacks on critical infrastructures throughout the world have brought a halt to transportation (Colonial Pipeline), hospitals services (Ireland’s HSE), and food supply chains (JBS — a WEF partner).

Cyber Polygon 2021 Agenda

Topics of discussion on this year’s Cyber Polygon 2021 program agenda include:

  • New world — new currency: How to make the financial system resilient as digital currencies proliferate?
    • Speakers:
      • Mark Barnett, President, Europe, Mastercard
      • Matthew Dill, Global Head of Strategic Partnerships and Ventures, Senior Vice President, Visa
  • Combating ransomware: developing an international response
    • Speakers:
      • Craig Jones, Cybercrime Director, INTERPOL
      • Michael Daniel, President and CEO, Cyber Threat Alliance
      • Teresa Walsh, Global Head of Intelligence, FS-ISAC
  • Resilient supply chains: protect people by protecting business
    • Moderator: Troels Oerting, Chairman at Bullwall Inc; Chairman of the Advisory Board at the WEF Center for Cybersecurity (2018-2020)
      • Moderator Quote: “We are all interconnected in one way or another and ‘my vulnerability is your vulnerability and your vulnerability is mine’. This reality combined with fast increase in IoT devices and the reality that ‘all is connected, all is sensing, all is stored and all is used’ changes the rules of the security game fundamentally. I am looking forward to an engaging discussion on this important topic and to learn from the best” — Troels Oerting
    • Speakers:
      • Chris McCurdy, Vice President and General Manager, IBM Security
      • Dorit Dor, Vice President of Products, Check Point Software Technologies
      • Eva Chen, CEO, Trend Micro
      • Eugene Kaspersky, Chief Executive Officer, Kaspersky Lab
  • International regulation on the net — a necessity: but what about possibilities?
    • Moderator:
      • Jovan Kurbalija, Founding Director, Diplo Foundation
    • Speakers:
      • Vuk Žugić, Ambassador, Co-ordinator of Economic and Environmental Activities, OSCE
      • Andrey Vorobyov, Director, Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ
  • And other items on the globalist bucket list

Today, Eugene Kaspersky was quoted on the Cyber Polygon 2021 website, highlighting the importance of a “Cyber Immunity” approach that pivots away from traditional cybersecurity.

“The modern landscape of cyberthreats requires an entirely new approach: a switch from traditional cybersecurity to the concept of ‘Cyber Immunity’ — where the cost of a successful cyberattack is greater than the potential damage” — Eugene Kaspersky

According to Kaspersky:

“These days, cybersecurity isn’t just about simply protecting endpoint devices; it’s become a critical part of business and manufacturing processes.

“The modern landscape of cyberthreats requires an entirely new approach: a switch from traditional cybersecurity to the concept of ‘Cyber Immunity’ — where the cost of a successful cyberattack is greater than the potential damage.

“Information systems must be designed and manufactured to protect the ecosystems to which everything is connected.”

Kaspersky has been talking about “Cyber Immunity” since before the pandemic.

Cyber Pandemic Prophecies

Prior to the major ransomware attacks on critical infrastructures this year, the WEF released a short video on January 18, 2021 warning about a “cyber attack with COVID-like characteristics” that would “spread faster and further than any biological virus.”

“I believe that there will be another crisis. It will be more significant […] We need to start this cooperation and understanding early, so that when the crisis does hit, we’re in a position to respond effectively to it” — Jeremy Jurgens, WEF, 2020

According to the video below, which is now “unlisted” on YouTube, the WEF claims that COVID-19 was known as “an anticipated risk,” and so is its digital equivalent — a cyber pandemic.

During last year’s Cyber Polygon 2020 live sessions, WEF Chief Business Officer Jeremy Jurgens said that preventing the next crisis would require that all sectors of society and the economy come together.

“I would anticipate that when we do see this next crisis, it will be faster than what we’ve seen with COVID, the exponential growth rate will be much steeper, the impact will be greater, and as a result the economic and social implications will be even more significant” — Jeremy Jurgens, WEF, 2020

“I believe that there will be another crisis,” he said. “It will be more significant. We need to actually start preparing for that now.”

“We need to start this cooperation and understanding early, so that when the crisis does hit, we’re in a position to respond effectively to it.

“I would anticipate that when we do see this next crisis, it will be faster than what we’ve seen with COVID, the exponential growth rate will be much steeper, the impact will be greater, and as a result the economic and social implications will be even more significant.

“I think it’s really important that we don’t underestimate the severity of a crisis like this — the impact it could have.

“It’s going to take all sectors of society and the economy to come together to address that,” Jurgens added.

“A cyber attack with COVID-like characteristics would spread faster and farther than any biological virus” — World Economic Forum, 2021

Trends emerging out of last year’s cyber pandemic simulation discussions included:

  • A desire for greater consolidation and centralization of power between corporations and states
  • A desire to censor fake news, disinformation, and misinformation
  • A desire for the adoption of digital identity schemes (Tony Blair being a major advocate at Cyber Polygon 2020)

Will discussions and policy recommendations coming out of Cyber Polygon 2021 be as prophetic as they have been in previous pandemic simulations?

Event 201 and Cyber Polygon Pandemic Simulation Policymaking

For example, just a few months before the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, the WEF, along with the Johns Hopkins and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, held a fake pandemic exercise on October 18, 2019 called Event 201which specifically simulated a coronavirus pandemic to gauge global preparedness.

Event 201 simulated “an outbreak of a novel zoonotic coronavirus transmitted from bats to pigs to people that eventually becomes efficiently transmissible from person to person, leading to a severe pandemic,” according to the Event 201 scenario page.

“The pathogen and the disease it causes are modeled largely on SARS, but it is more transmissible in the community setting by people with mild symptoms.”

“It is important to use the COVID-19 crisis as a timely opportunity to reflect on the lessons of cybersecurity community to draw and improve our unpreparedness for a potential cyber pandemic” — Klaus Schwab, 2020

The Event 201 recommendations called for greater collaboration between the public and private sectors while emphasizing the importance of establishing partnerships with unelected, global institutions such as the WHO, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the International Air Transport Organization, to carry out a centralized response.

Many scenarios coming out of Event 201 became reality in 2020 including:

  • Government lockdowns
  • Massive censorship
  • Global economic crashes
  • Societal upheaval
  • And More

The above ingredients all being necessary to usher in the WEF’s great reset of the global economy and all societal contracts.

Over the past year, the World Economic Forum and partners have been prepping for a potential cyber pandemic.

And like clockwork, the world has been rocked by a wave of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure since the conclusion of Cyber Polygon 2020.

Given the unelected globalists’ remarkably accurate track record on simulating events shortly before they happen, is the WEF anticipation of a cyber pandemic already upon us, or is the worst still yet to come?

Tim Hinchliffe

The Sociable editor Tim Hinchliffe covers tech and society, with perspectives on public and private policies proposed by governments, unelected globalists, think tanks, big tech companies, defense departments, and intelligence agencies. Previously, Tim was a reporter for the Ghanaian Chronicle in West Africa and an editor at Colombia Reports in South America. These days, he is only responsible for articles he writes and publishes in his own name. tim@sociable.co

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