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Introduction: When Cybersecurity Stops Being “Just IT”
The modern digital world is no longer divided into business operations and global politics. It is a single interconnected battlefield where cyberattacks, artificial intelligence, and geopolitical strategy overlap. At Infosecurity Europe 2026, cybersecurity expert Bharat Thakrar, board director at ISACA’s London Chapter, delivered a stark message: organizations that still treat security as a technical IT issue are dangerously behind reality.
His warning was not theoretical. It was rooted in decades of escalating cyber conflict, where private companies are no longer incidental victims but active targets in global power struggles. In this new reality, every organization connected to the internet is also connected to geopolitics.
Summary: A Shift From Corporate Security to Global Warfare Thinking
Thakrar’s speech reframed cybersecurity as a form of statecraft rather than infrastructure maintenance. He argued that cyber risks now emerge from nation-state ambitions, intelligence operations, and hybrid warfare strategies. From the Sony Pictures hack in 2014 to modern attacks on critical infrastructure, the message is consistent: corporations are now part of geopolitical chessboards.
He emphasized that companies must stop reacting like IT departments and start thinking like strategic national assets. Cybersecurity is no longer about preventing downtime; it is about surviving targeted influence, disruption, and psychological warfare.
The Sony Pictures Breach: The Moment Everything Changed
The 2014 Sony Pictures Entertainment breach marked a turning point in global cybersecurity awareness. It revealed something previously underestimated: state-aligned actors were willing to target private companies not for profit, but for political messaging and coercion.
This event shattered the illusion that corporations were outside geopolitical conflict. Instead, it exposed a new reality where private firms can become instruments or casualties of international disputes. Sensitive data leaks, reputational damage, and operational disruption became tools of influence rather than crime alone.
Modern Warfare: From Viasat to Stryker and Beyond
Recent incidents such as the 2022 Viasat satellite network disruption during the Ukraine conflict and the 2026 attack on Stryker demonstrate how cyber operations are increasingly tied to physical and strategic outcomes.
These are no longer isolated cyber incidents. They are coordinated disruptions embedded within broader geopolitical strategies. The goal is not just data theft, but operational paralysis, supply chain destabilization, and strategic pressure on governments and industries.
The Hidden Threat: Covert Foreign IT Workers and Insider Access
One of the most concerning risks highlighted was the emergence of covert IT worker schemes, particularly linked to North Korea. These operations involve individuals gaining employment within companies under false identities or indirect control structures.
Once inside, they gain legitimate access to systems, data, and internal networks. Thakrar raised a critical question: how many organizations would even detect such infiltration in time?
This raises urgent challenges for HR vetting systems, identity verification protocols, and access governance. Traditional hiring processes are no longer sufficient against adversaries who operate across borders and identities.
The CGPR Framework: Turning Geopolitical Risk Into Action
To address this evolving threat landscape, Thakrar proposed the Cyber Geopolitical Preparedness and Response (CGPR) framework. It is designed to translate abstract geopolitical risk into operational security practice.
Assess Exposure
Organizations must map their operational footprint, supply chains, vendor dependencies, and geopolitical associations that may increase targeting risk.
Evaluate Readiness
This involves testing how quickly systems can be restored, relocated, or hardened during crises, including SOC scaling and patch acceleration capabilities.
Plan Response
Companies need structured war-room protocols, clearly defined authority chains, and cross-functional crisis teams involving legal, HR, finance, and operations.
Continuous Monitoring
Real-time intelligence gathering from threat feeds, dark web monitoring, and social platforms helps detect early indicators of escalation or targeting.
DEFCON Thinking: Business in a Heightened State
Thakrar introduced the idea of corporate “heightened states,” similar to DEFCON levels in military systems. At elevated threat levels, organizations must rapidly shift priorities.
This includes freezing non-essential system changes, accelerating security patch deployment, hardening identity infrastructure, and scaling security operations centers. Business continuity becomes secondary to operational survival.
The key idea is preparedness for rapid escalation rather than slow adaptation.
Geopolitical Stress Testing: Preparing for Long-Duration Attacks
Traditional cybersecurity drills often focus on short ransomware incidents. Thakrar argued this is outdated.
Instead, organizations must simulate prolonged nation-state campaigns that stretch over weeks or months. These scenarios test endurance, decision-making under fatigue, and long-term operational resilience.
He noted a critical silence in the room when asking how many companies actually conduct such exercises. The implication was clear: very few are prepared.
Hybrid Warfare: When Cyber Meets Physical Reality
Modern cyber threats are increasingly linked to physical disruption. Drone reconnaissance, submarine cable probing, and supplier compromise can all serve as precursors to kinetic or industrial attacks.
This hybrid warfare model collapses the boundary between digital and physical security. Cyber signals may indicate upcoming real-world impact, meaning incident response teams must integrate physical infrastructure monitoring and geopolitical intelligence.
Conclusion: Cybersecurity as Statecraft, Not IT Hygiene
Thakrar’s message is ultimately a call for transformation. Cybersecurity is no longer a technical maintenance function. It is a strategic discipline tied directly to global power dynamics.
Executives and CISOs must now think like geopolitical analysts. The battlefield is not future tense—it is already active. Organizations that fail to adapt risk becoming collateral damage in conflicts they never expected to join.
What Undercode Say:
Cybersecurity is no longer isolated from global politics
Nation-state actors increasingly target private corporations
AI accelerates both cyber offense and defense cycles
Corporate systems are now part of geopolitical infrastructure
Traditional IT security models are structurally outdated
Sony 2014 was a paradigm-breaking event in cyber awareness
Hybrid warfare blends cyber, physical, and psychological operations
Supply chain dependency increases systemic vulnerability
Insider threats are rising through covert employment schemes
HR departments are now frontline cybersecurity defenses
Identity management is becoming a national security issue
SOC operations must scale dynamically under crisis conditions
Geopolitical mapping should be part of enterprise risk models
Vendor ecosystems are strategic attack surfaces
Cyber incidents increasingly aim for disruption, not theft
Nation-state campaigns are long-duration operations
Traditional tabletop exercises are insufficient
Continuous threat monitoring is now mandatory
Dark web intelligence has strategic importance
Corporate boards must understand geopolitical exposure
Security response must include legal and financial leadership
Automation is critical for rapid incident escalation response
Attack attribution is less important than impact mitigation
Operational resilience is more important than perimeter defense
Critical infrastructure is a primary cyber target class
Data leaks are used as psychological weapons
Companies are now indirect participants in conflicts
Digital supply chains expand attack surfaces globally
Security strategy must align with national defense thinking
Cyber-physical convergence increases systemic risk
Crisis thresholds must be predefined and actionable
Security teams need authority pre-delegation frameworks
Real-time intelligence fusion improves response speed
Geopolitical forecasting should influence security budgets
AI enhances both attack automation and detection capability
Corporate “wartime footing” models are emerging norms
Strategic cybersecurity planning now spans months not hours
Organizational resilience depends on cross-functional coordination
Security culture must evolve beyond compliance thinking
Cyber defense is now a core element of global stability
✅ The Sony Pictures Entertainment breach (2014) is widely confirmed as a politically motivated cyberattack with significant data leaks
✅ The Viasat satellite disruption in 2022 is documented as part of the Ukraine conflict cyber operations
❌ Specific reference to a “2026 Stryker attack” cannot be independently verified as a confirmed public incident
❌ Claims about covert North Korean IT worker schemes are supported in general intelligence reports but specific scale details remain partially unverified
Prediction:
(+1) Positive Outlook
Organizations adopt geopolitical cyber frameworks like CGPR more widely
Cyber resilience improves through cross-sector intelligence sharing
AI-driven defense systems reduce detection and response times
Corporate boards begin integrating security into strategic governance
(-1) Negative Outlook
Nation-state cyber conflicts intensify in frequency and sophistication
Insider threat programs become harder to detect due to AI obfuscation
Hybrid cyber-physical attacks increase systemic infrastructure risk
Smaller organizations struggle to meet geopolitical-grade security standards
Deep Analysis (Linux / Systems / Security Commands Perspective)
sudo auditctl -l → check active security audit rules
sudo ausearch -m USER_LOGIN → analyze unauthorized access attempts
journalctl -u ssh → review SSH authentication logs
netstat -tulnp → detect suspicious open ports
ss -tupn → inspect active network connections
iptables -L -v -n → evaluate firewall rule exposure
fail2ban-client status → check brute force protection status
grep "Failed password" /var/log/auth.log → detect intrusion attempts
clamav scan / → run malware scanning on Linux systems
rkhunter --check → detect rootkits
top / htop → monitor abnormal resource usage
ps aux --sort=-%cpu → identify potential malicious processes
lsof -i → map network-bound processes
chkrootkit → verify system integrity
systemctl status → audit service-level exposure
crontab -l → inspect persistence mechanisms
tcpdump -i eth0 → capture live network traffic
wireshark → deep packet inspection for anomaly detection
uname -a → verify kernel version vulnerabilities
dpkg -l | grep security → check installed security patches
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References:
Reported By: www.infosecurity-magazine.com
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