Cybergeddon

This article is about the internet security term. For the 2012 web series, see Cybergeddon (film).

Cybergeddon (from tech. cyber-, "computer", and Armageddon, from Hebrew Har Megiddo, "mountain of the final battle") is a popular term in computer security, the media and international relations for a hypothetical cataclysm caused by large-scale sabotage of computerised networks, systems and data flows.^[1][2] The scenario typically combines cyberterrorism, cyberwarfare, cybercrime and hacktivism into cascades of attacks capable of disrupting the Internet, critical infrastructure and global financial and industrial systems.^[1]

Commentators have used the term for worst-case futures in which attacks on targets such as banks, payment systems, power grids and industrial control systems trigger systemic economic collapse or prolonged social disruption.^[3][4][5]The concept is closely related to expressions such as "cyber apocalypse", "cyber 9/11" and "cyber Pearl Harbor", which likewise denote large-scale, strategically significant cyber attacks.^[6][7]

Although some security professionals and policy documents have presented cybergeddon as a serious strategic risk,^[3] academic and policy debates also include more sceptical views that see such apocalyptic scenarios as exaggerated compared to the empirical record of cyber operations.^[6][7][8]

Terminology and origins

Cybergeddon is a combination of cyber-, associated with computers, digital networks and cyberspace, and Armageddon, a term from the Book of Revelation that in modern usage denotes an ultimate, catastrophic battle.^[1][6]

See also

• Cyber-attack
• Cyberwarfare
• Cyberterrorism
• Cybercrime
• Information security
• Critical infrastructure
• Global catastrophic risk