We’re Haaaaaaaaaaack-ed!

The most recent victim of a major data breach: The U.S. Treasury

Since 2023, a “Cyber Apocalypse” (Forbes, Feb. 6, 2023) has been underway, costing billions of dollars in losses, even for businesses with the most sophisticated security software. This isn’t lonely old ladies living alone falling for Nigerian Prince scams. This is federal banks, national governments, utility companies, airlines, pharmaceutical giants, and now: the United States Treasury.

From Reuters, Dec. 31:

Chinese state-sponsored hackers breached the U.S. Treasury Department’s computer security guardrails this month and stole documents in what Treasury called a “major incident,” according to a letter to lawmakers that Treasury officials provided to Reuters on Monday.

By the time the computers are hijacked by nefarious outside actors, it’s too late.

The February 2012 Socionomist warned an unprecedented cybersecurity crisis was an inevitable consequence of negative social mood:

As animosity rises and military budgets fall, expect even more belligerence-on-the-cheap. Verbal threats, espionage, trade wars, financial conflicts, internal terrorism, cyber-attacks, authoritarian clashes, border conflicts, drone attacks and anti-satellite attacks should all increase.

The picture is not pretty. All [the analysts] see cyberspace as an emerging, critical area of competition and are notably pessimistic about the future. Conflict seems almost inevitable …

The September 2024 Socionomist dug further still, charting the correlation between negative mood and increased data breaches:

The February 2012 Socionomist also anticipated an authoritarian lockdown in response to increased data infiltrations:

As governments struggle to neutralize such threats, they will seek to control and shut down larger and larger swaths of the Internet. This will fuel the growing global authoritarian/anti-authoritarian conflict.

Earlier in 2024, the Justice Department ordered the China-based parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, to sell or face a U.S. ban by Jan. 19, citing first and foremost cyber security concerns.

Trends that seem shocking and unpredictable to many are often predictable through the lens of socionomics. Stay ahead of the biggest shifts with a Socionomist subscription today.