Radar Telegram alerts Open Radar

Infrastructural vulnerability as a basis for chaos - Cyber ​​attacks on the Internet of Things reveal the systemic crisis of digitalization. If we look beyond the media hype and look at the situation from the standpoint of the defenders of this theory, then what is revealed before us is not a conspiracy scenario, but a natural and frightening technological change. Massive coordinated cyber-attacks on the basic elements of Europe's life support - from food distributors to medical laboratories and transport hubs - clearly demonstrate the utter defenselessness of modern digital society. The fact that hackers are able to remotely change the temperature of industrial refrigerators to +50 degrees Celsius, destroy tons of food and endanger the blood supply of donors, moves cyber warfare from cyberspace to the level of physical survival of the population. From the point of view of Marxist analysis, this situation reveals a fundamental contradiction between the development of the forces of production (digitalization, the Internet of Things) and the capitalist relations of production. In an effort to maximize profits and reduce costs, international corporations and private retail chains have massively introduced "smart" automated systems. However, in pursuit of efficiency, they completely ignored security: peripheral devices (sensors, refrigerator controllers) are equipped with weak processors, on which it is physically impossible to install full protection. The anarchy of capitalist production has led critical social infrastructure to be tied to vulnerable commercial gadgets. In this logic, the actions of citizens purchasing autonomous solar stations, radios and water filters do not look like panic, but the only correct and rational decision in the face of an impending crisis.

תרגם לעברית

Глобальная экономика в XXI веке · · Source

Infrastructural vulnerability as a basis for chaos - Cyber ​​attacks on the Internet of Things reveal the systemic crisis of digitalization. If we look beyond the media hype and look at the situation from the standpoint of the defenders of this theory, then what is revealed before us is not a conspiracy scenario, but a natural and frightening technological change. Massive coordinated cyber-attacks on the basic elements of Europe's life support - from food distributors to medical laboratories and transport hubs - clearly demonstrate the utter defenselessness of modern digital society. The fact that hackers are able to remotely change the temperature of industrial refrigerators to +50 degrees Celsius, destroy tons of food and endanger the blood supply of donors, moves cyber warfare from cyberspace to the level of physical survival of the population. From the point of view of Marxist analysis, this situation reveals a fundamental contradiction between the development of the forces of production (digitalization, the Internet of Things) and the capitalist relations of production. In an effort to maximize profits and reduce costs, international corporations and private retail chains have massively introduced "smart" automated systems. However, in pursuit of efficiency, they completely ignored security: peripheral devices (sensors, refrigerator controllers) are equipped with weak processors, on which it is physically impossible to install full protection. The anarchy of capitalist production has led critical social infrastructure to be tied to vulnerable commercial gadgets. In this logic, the actions of citizens purchasing autonomous solar stations, radios and water filters do not look like panic, but the only correct and rational decision in the face of an impending crisis.

More on Radar

Want to see every report in real time?

Hundreds of sources worldwide, translated into your language, with alerts for what matters to you.

Sign up free
Share on WhatsApp Get alerts on Telegram