At the recent Cyber Security Summit in Tashkent, Aloysius Cheang, Huawei's President of Cybersecurity & Privacy Protection and Chief Security Officer for the Middle East and Central Asia, delivered a stark warning about the evolving landscape of cyber threats.
Cheang emphasized that cybersecurity has transitioned from being a tool of mass disruption to one of mass destruction, with the potential to cause loss of life. \"Cybersecurity is no longer a weapon of mass disruption but of mass destruction, because it can kill lives,\" he stated, highlighting the increasing severity of cyberattacks.
He criticized the industry's longstanding inability to address the root causes of cybersecurity threats, noting, \"Despite how much money, investment that we have done, it never solved the problem. We are still solving the problem 30 years back.\" Cheang called for a more precise and comprehensive approach, suggesting that current strategies fail to target the core issues effectively.
One of the critical vulnerabilities highlighted by Cheang is supply chain security. Citing the recent pager attack in Lebanon as an example, he explained, \"What supposedly the perpetrators have done is to attack the supply chain, right? At the production phase, they have imbued the back door in the product, that can be remotely triggered.\" Such infiltrations pose significant risks to critical infrastructure, as compromised products can undermine systems before they reach consumers.
Cheang's insights underscore the urgent need for global collaboration in enhancing cybersecurity measures and securing supply chains to protect against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.
Reference(s):
Cyber wars and global collaboration: Huawei executive on cybersecurity
cgtn.com
