Resist Rising Cyber-Balkanisation

The global internet is heading towards a schism brought on by security concerns. Charl van der Walt explores what this will mean for business, government and the citizens of the world.

- Charl Van Der Walt

A string of interrelated events in 2017 catapulted cybersecurity out from data-centre basements to the very midst of geopolitical battles that promise to shape global affairs as we know them. But before we wade into those murky waters, let’s do some time travel.

In 1950 at a Women’s Club rally in West Virginia, Joseph McCarthy famously held aloft a sheet of paper, pronouncing: “I have here in my hand a list of 205 – a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department.” The gesture came to represent an era in US history known as the second Red Scare, the period between 1947 and 1956 when the US was gripped by the fear of Communist influence.

McCarthy’s words echoed eerily when senator Marco Rubio noted the widespread use of Kaspersky Anti-Virus within the US government during a congressional hearing. He asked: “Would any of you be comfortable with the Kaspersky Lab software on your computers?” Daniel Coats, director of national intelligence, responded: “A resounding no from me”.

The subsequent decision to ban the Kaspersky AntiVirus software from all US government computers followed a months-long international inquisition over whether the cybersecurity giant’s products can really be trusted. Come September 2017, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) instructed federal civilian agencies to remove Kaspersky software.

A SPLINTERED INTERNET BEGINS

Jump to December 2017. I swear this really happened:

Driver: You one of those security tech guys then?

Me: I guess so.

Driver: I use Kaspersky. Should I stop using Kaspersky…?