Elites warned about catastrophic cyberattacks

Davos elites were warned Saturday of the terrifying possibilities of modern cyber terrorism including attacks on power plants, telecommunications and financial systems, even turning all of Los Angeles’ traffic lights green. Kaspersky lab security group head Eugene Kaspersky says hacking would only increase in the future as more devices are hooked up to the Internet. Head of the UN’s counter-terrorism unit Jean-Paul Laborde pointed to increasing links between organised crime and extremist groups such as Islamic State. Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said the line between government-sponsored attacks and criminal activity was becoming increasingly blurred. Top Microsoft executive Bradford Smith warned of the dangers of putting in so-called “backdoors” to messaging systems, as urged by British Prime Minister David Cameron. He said, “The path to Hell starts at the back door.” The World Economic Forum in Davos brings together some 2,500 of the top players in the sphere of finance, business and politics and ends later Saturday.

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