My daughter’s dog that we are caring for this weekend has just had her second walk of the day. My wife is still asleep. I have just poured a cup of coffee and am starting to think about what is happening in Europe and the world.
Two large and well-known Swedish companies, IKEA and Volvo, have been described in the media after intrusions into their IT systems.
IKEA had its email system hacked, which meant that the fraudsters could send emails as if they came from IKEA employees.
Volvo has had an intrusion into IT systems, which has meant that secret and sensitive material from their R&D department has been stolen.
Without knowing it, I think it is state-subsidized hackers who have the resources to do this. At the same time, there are only two examples. Many more companies around the world are exposed to the same thing.
Conclusion: The world is at war.
Russian Authority orders ISPs to block VPN service providers. In addition, Tor Project reports that traffic from Russian users is changing, which should mean that Russian ISPs have blocked the access to the Tor network.
Without knowing it, this could very well be a preparation for an impending occupation of the whole of Ukraine, not just the eastern part that Russia has occupied since 2014. The Kremlin wants to be able to control what information about the occupation reaches its citizens. Of course, the Kremlin wants to be able to spread its propaganda.
In the past, citizens in dictatorships could listen to short-wave radio broadcasts in order to form their own opinion. These radio broadcasts were often disturbed by the dictatorships. The equivalent today is to disrupt internet traffic.
Conclusion: The world is at war.
To be able to get around these disturbances, encryption and IT security must not only be allowed in the world’s democracies but must also be appreciated. With higher IT security and stronger encryption, which Volvo and IKEA can use in their IT systems, citizens in dictatorships can also freely choose which information to take part in.