Global Governance: The Digital Domain & The Death of Internet

Securing The Net: Global Governance in The Digital Domain was a White Paper written in September 2013. 

This report was produced within the framework of the Global Governance 2022 program, organized by the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin, in collaboration with partner institutions in the United States (The Brookings Institution and Princeton University), China (Tsinghua University and Fudan University), and Germany (Hertie School of Governance). 

The Global Governance Futures Group symbiotic with the Global Public Policy Institute(GPPi) outlines Specific Methodologies and Scenarios on the Future of Cyber Risk and Governance. 

The 2013 Report Outlines The Following: 

"Could the Internet actually die? The path to this outcome might be precipitated by an inability to address growing mistrust, the continued existence and exploitation of major cyber vulnerabilities, and mass fear created by new kinds of cyber attacks. "

'SCENARIO 1: “CYBER DEATH” – THE END OF THE INTERNET AS WE KNOW IT'

• an “incubation period” during which steadily growing Sino-American [CHINA-AMERICAN] tensions, an interstate cyber incident as well as the continued militarization of cyberspace led to a gradual disconnection of various sectors of critical infrastructure from the Internet;

• ›  an “outbreak phase,” in which a “tsunami” of cyber crime led to a collapse of e-commerce and forced governments, overwhelmed by the volume of crime in cyberspace, to develop secure, parallel network architectures that conformed to national and regional boundaries;

• ›  finally, the “passing of the ‘old’ Internet,” initiated by Russia, China, and Germany following a global panic during a brief period of “cyber terror.” 

  The collapse of e-commerce, which threw the global economy into a recession, was paired with a global run on banks. The lack of confidence in banks led to the withdrawal of private savings at record levels. This near-immediate global collapse of the financial system spurred governments to action.

              'SCENARIO 2: “CYBER PARADISE"

• ›  bilateral and multilateral efforts between states that ultimately led to a General Agreement on Confidence Building in Cyberspace (GACBC);

• ›  the diffusion and increased sophistication of cyber security systems/infrastructure, in particular advanced cryptographic and “electric fence” systems;

• ›  and lastly, the creation of a regime centering around the International Cyber Security Treaty.

As the Internet was expanded further into all aspects of daily economic and social interactions, attention to the topic by politicians and the media continued to grow. Henceforth, a conference program was initiated that included not only the US and China but also the European Union, India, Russia, and Brazil. The discussions in this “cyber club” carried over to G20 meetings, as cyber security became a priority issue in national defense.

 

 

 

 As 2021 now Comes to an End we heard the Echos within IT to Safeguard our Legacy Industrial Control Systems.  Updating ICS and the Electrical Grid Should be a #1 Priority for National Security. Unfortunately, either from State Sponsored Actors or from Political Mismanagement, Gov'ts tend to wait for something to break before addressing issues. The Great Reset now Comes to Mind when thinking about the Future of the Internet. The Cyber Attack Trends for 2022 and this Next Decade will Include Attacks on our Legacy ICS and much more. Cyber Attacks are now becoming Physical. Cyber War will not only effect Data, Communications and IT Systems; in this New Age a Cyber Attack Could Result in No Power during the Winter or Gas and Energy Shortages across the Country. We saw this with the Colonial Pipe Line Hack. More Ransomware Along with, IoT, Block Chain/Crypto Currency Wallet Attacks, Exchange Shutdowns and Deepfakes will be in the headlines. The Push for a New Global Internet like our now Global Economy will be at the Forefront of all Nations and the UN. The Internet has already become a vastly different place. We saw the Great Social Media Purge of Dissenting voices in 2018. Where Individuals, Organizations, Brands and Analytics can just be disappeared by Gatekeepers.   

Will we allow the Internet and our Power Grid to just become another Policy? A Thing for Bureaucrats and so called "Experts" to Control? Something to Campaign on When it's too late?

Government Failure Should Not Equal Loss of Rights and Security.

Lets Bullet Point Some Additional Reading on These Trends.

Biden Signs National Security Memo Addressing Industrial Control System Cybersecurity

White House: National Security Memorandum on Improving Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems

Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency  [GLOBAL]

Cyber-Attack on world’s largest meat processor highlights food system vulnerabilities June 2021

MITRE Framework on ICS Jan.2020

NIST: SolarWinds and Beyond: Improving the Cybersecurity of Software Supply Chains May 2021

ICANN and The United Nations 

Industrial Control Systems Joint Working Group (ICSJWG)

 CISA: Threat of Russian Attack on Critical Infrastructure 

 

 *** UPDATE JAN/2023

We are now seeing a trend in Power Grid Attacks Throughout the US.

FBI: Attacks on 4 Stations in 1 County

FBI: Shootings at Sub-Stations in NC 

FBI: GE Engineer Sentenced for Espionage

TIME: Power Grid Extremist Attacks

 

 

 

 

-Sodaghar 11/12/21

The Pandora Papers: World Leaders Offshore Accounts Global Conspiracy & Tax Evasion Exposed

 

ICIJ: The 150 news outlets that joined the investigative partnership include The Washington Post, the BBC, The Guardian, Radio France, Oštro Croatia, the Indian Express, Zimbabwe’s The Standard, Morocco’s Le Desk and Ecuador’s Diario El Universo.

 

  The Pandora Papers investigation unmasks the covert owners of offshore companies, incognito bank accounts, private jets, yachts, mansions, even  artworks by Picasso, Banksy and other masters – providing more information than what’s usually available to law enforcement agencies and cash-strapped governments.

Millions of leaked documents and the biggest journalism partnership in history have uncovered financial secrets of 35 current and former world leaders, more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories, and a global lineup of fugitives, con artists and murderers.

The secret documents expose offshore dealings of the King of Jordan, the presidents of Ukraine, Kenya and Ecuador, the prime minister of the Czech Republic and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The files also detail  financial activities of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “unofficial minister of propaganda” and more than 130 billionaires from Russia, the United States, Turkey and other nations.

The leaked records reveal that many of the power players who could help  bring an end to the offshore system instead benefit from it – stashing assets in covert companies and trusts while their governments do little to slow a global stream of illicit money that enriches criminals and impoverishes nations.

Among the hidden treasures revealed in the documents:

• A $22 million chateau in the French Riviera – replete with a cinema and two swimming pools – purchased through offshore companies by the Czech Republic’s populist prime minister, a billionaire who has railed against the corruption of economic and political elites.

• More than $13 million tucked in a secrecy-shaded trust in the Great Plains of the United States by a scion of one of Guatemala’s most powerful families, a dynasty that controls a soap and lipsticks conglomerate that’s been accused of harming workers and the earth.

• Three beachfront mansions in Malibu purchased through three offshore companies for $68 million by the King of Jordan in the years after Jordanians filled the streets during Arab Spring to protest joblessness and corruption.

The secret records are known as the Pandora Papers.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists obtained the trove of more than 11.9 million confidential files and led a team of more than 600 journalists from 150 news outlets that spent two years sifting through them, tracking down hard-to-find sources and digging into court records and other public documents from dozens of countries.

The leaked records come from 14 offshore services firms from around the world that set up shell companies and other offshore nooks for clients often seeking to keep their financial activities in the shadows. The records include information about the dealings of nearly three times as many current and former country leaders as any previous leak of documents from offshore havens.

In an era of widening authoritarianism and inequality, the Pandora Papers investigation provides an unequaled perspective on how money and power operate in the 21st century – and how the rule of law has been bent and broken around the world by a system of financial secrecy enabled by the U.S. and other wealthy nations.

The findings by ICIJ and its media partners spotlight how deeply secretive finance has infiltrated global politics – and offer insights into why governments and global organizations have made little headway in ending offshore financial abuses.

An ICIJ analysis of the secret documents identified 956 companies in offshore havens tied to 336 high-level politicians and public officials, including country leaders, cabinet ministers, ambassadors and others. More than two-thirds of those companies were set up in the British Virgin Islands, a jurisdiction long known as a key cog in the offshore system.

At least $11.3 trillion is held “offshore,” according to a 2020 study by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Because of the complexity and secrecy of the offshore system, it’s not possible to know how much of that wealth is tied to tax evasion and other crimes and how much of it involves funds that come from legitimate sources and have been reported to proper authorities.

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 TGFN-10/22/21