The Silicon Review - Best Business Review Magazine 10 Best Security Companies 2019 | Page 24

Russians staring
totalitarianism in the face
with internet isolation
C
ybercrime is a rapidly rising
threat to internet security,
causing millions in losses
to individuals, corporations
as well as governments.
From disrupting government
infrastructure and bringing
corporate operations to a grinding
halt to demanding millions in
ransom, cybercriminals are getting
bolder and ever more audacious
with their attacks with each passing
year. However, in spite of the
growing threat of cyber terrorism,
companies, as well as governments,
have been slow in enacting policy
and implementing measures to
counter this threat.
The internet is an extremely useful
platform that connects people
across the globe, enabling the
spread of ideas from country to
country, across continents. While
cybercriminals pose an external
threat to internet freedom, the
internal threats that stem from weak
democratic institutions may pose
a larger threat to internet freedom.
Democracy has always been about
the people and not the powerful
few. But what happens when the
same principles of the government
for the people, of the people and by
the people is used to legislate all the
power to the privileged few?
The result is legally approved
authoritarianism and an end to
internet freedom. Such a state of
affairs in any country would be
worse than cyber terrorism at its
worst. The internet is perhaps
the most important medium to
spread the ideas of civil liberties
and justice and censorship on
its usage is very similar to state-
sponsored cyberbullying. Countries