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The modern world is inundated with services and products from companies that exert a "hidden control" over our daily lives. In 1951, French-American industrial designer Raymond Loewy analyzed a typical day in the life of the "average man" from waking to sleeping and concluded that it was surrounded by designed products.
Today, in 2024, the average person might wake up to the alarm of a smartphone, enjoy hot water thanks to smart heating controls connected to the internet, and receive packages tracked online, with a doorbell also connected to the network. Electronic banking links them to a wide range of financial services.
Our lives are increasingly dependent on what I have termed the "cyberenergy production plexus." This "plexus" is an intricate network of elements that forms a structure or system that needs to be "activated" constantly to regulate our modern lives.
The plexus encompasses the multiple interconnections between telecommunications, energy, and manufacturing and service systems, exposing us to unknown risks, such as the sudden failure of the plexus and all the interconnected services.
On July 19, 2024, part of this plexus failed due to a faulty CrowdStrike software update, triggering a global blackout and a minor digital pandemic by halting the computer systems of numerous industries. This incident highlighted our critical dependence on interconnected technologies and the risk of a future digital pandemic that could impact the plexus for hours or even days.
At the heart of this plexus is the internet, with over 1,000 companies like CrowdStrike, whose operations can affect its stability. Major players include Microsoft, Alphabet (Google, Google Cloud), Amazon, and Meta (Facebook). There are also lesser-known companies like Cloudflare, which provides cybersecurity and domain name system services; any issues with Cloudflare can result in cloud access failures and internet interruptions.
Additionally, companies like Lumen Technologies operate a Level 1 network crucial for global high-capacity connections. With about 14 Level 1 networks worldwide, any disruption in these could fragment the internet into smaller, disconnected networks, leaving only Level 2 networks, which operate regionally or nationally, as alternatives.
Companies like Swift, which facilitates cross-border payments and connects over 11,000 financial institutions, are also involved and play a central role in the global financial system. An interruption in Swift could lead to chaos in international money transfers and issues with payment duplication.
Other key players include Verizon, Rogers, and BT, which provide telecommunications services. Both Verizon (2019) and Rogers (2022) have experienced localized internet outages, with Rogers' 2022 update resulting in a one-day blackout that severely affected critical infrastructure, including card payments, banking services, hospitals, and emergency calls.
The plexus also relies on satellites and approximately 1.5 million kilometers of undersea fiber optic cables connecting continents, an infrastructure most people are unaware of. A natural disaster could damage these cables and cause a catastrophic failure.
Furthermore, there is a symbiotic relationship between the plexus and energy generation: an electrical failure could stem from a plexus malfunction, which in turn cannot operate without power. The complexity of the plexus makes it susceptible to human errors, equipment failures, maintenance issues, and adverse weather conditions.
Additionally, the plexus could be vulnerable to cyberattacks such as malware or border gateway protocol (BGP) hijacking. Level 1 network cables are critical global infrastructure and could be damaged by accidents or targeted by terrorists or military forces.
For citizens, businesses, and governments, the key is to have contingencies in place to manage failures and disruptions. However, most are not adequately prepared. A prolonged disruption of the plexus could severely impact daily life, with the possibility of looting and unrest if, for example, it affects internet-connected alarms.
In the most severe cases—fortunately not experienced in the CrowdStrike incident, but tragically in the internet outages in Sudan that affected emergency food supplies—plexus failures could even result in death.
This suggests that, while the advancement of the cyberenergy production plexus offers undeniable benefits, it also carries numerous known and unknown risks.
Sources: theconversation.com
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