How cyber attacks can crash economies, destroy governments and bring society to its knees

MODERN society's frightening vulnerability to cyber attacks was vividly demonstrated today when the NHS was shut down by a computer virus.

Now tech experts have warned that digital attacks pose a grave and growing threat to Britain and the world.

Graeme Newman, chief innovation officer at the insurance firm CFC, sits on a global board of experts called the Global Cyber Alliance.

He said the NHS hacks were a "wake-up call".

"Today's attack on the NHS was by small-scale criminals," Newman told The Sun Online.

"If somebody - like North Korea or an ISIS terrorist cell - wanted to cause trouble it could bring the UK to its knees.

"They could ground planes, pollute water processing plants and leave us without power.

"We're not talking about the future, this is a real threat to the UK right now."

His warnings might sound like the stuff of science fiction, but these sorts of attacks have already taken place.

In 2016, Russian computer experts took down power grids across Ukraine on several occasions, leaving people without electricity.

In the same year, crooks also targeted nuclear power plants, although the International Atomic Energy Agency refused to say exactly where the plant was and provide further details of the assault.

In another incident, criminals were able to change the levels of chemicals used to treat tap water by hacking outdated IT software that was running a water plant.

The name of the plant was never released.

It's said that society could survive just three days without electricity before descending into anarchy, so any serious attack on the power grid could have devastating consequences.

Governments are also vulnerable to enemies who want to leak sensitive information or spread disinformation.

We have already seen hackers interfere in the American and French elections, but this sort of intervention is likely to become more and more common.

David Em, a researcher at the tech security firm Kaspersky, said the risk posed by cyber attacks will only grow as society becomes ever more connected.

He warned that everything from children's toys to household appliances are now connected to the internet, increasing the risk that hackers can use them to target people in their own home.

Em also said that computers were now a weapon of war and will be a key part of any modern conflict.

"There is no question that computer systems are part of warfare, whether that's about jamming communications, sending out false information or trying to infiltrate an enemy's computer systems," he told The Sun Online.

"Every aspect of society and life involves computers and whether they have a political, social or economic purpose, there will always be people looking to take advantage of that fact."

The NHS hacks appear to be have been motivated by financial gain.

But in the future, nation-states are likely to use cyber attacks during a conflict in a bid to knock out the infrastructure which powers their enemy country.

A belligerent nation could attempt to use digital weapons of mass destruction to shut down power supplies, cause economic chaos by crashing their enemy's stock market or bring down the communications system used by the military.

If the technological blitzkrieg is powerful enough, it could essentially do the job of traditional bombs and guns without a shot needing to be fired.

"Critical infrastructure has an increasingly large target on its back," said Kevin Davis, VP of public sector at the tech firm Splunk.

"We’re not just talking about energy or power grids- we’re talking about the very foundation of the internet, which is more fragile than we thought."

Brian Lord OBE, former Deputy Director GCHQ Cyber and Intelligence, said it was "inevitable" that Britain would hit by another massive online attack like the one which happened today.
"These attacks will continue to happen at this scale with an impact disproportionate to the nature of the attack," he said.