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Cyber economics and the risk to critical infrastructure

Published

1 month ago

September 29, 2025

Integrator Web-Editor

By Heidi Crebo-Rediker, Senior Fellow for Geoeconomics, Council on Foreign Relations

In debates on economic security, cyber economics is too often overlooked. Many still frame cyber threats as company-level problems, where firms worry about ransomware, retailers fear stolen data, and banks focus on hacked payment systems. However, the more consequential danger is collective: cyberattacks on critical infrastructure with the power to unleash cascading disruptions across entire economies. This systemic risk remains under-appreciated, even as attacks grow in scope, sophistication, and geopolitical consequence.

From corporate risk to macroeconomic shock

The greatest danger lies not in a single server, but in the complex systems that underpin modern commerce. Electricity grids, water utilities, transportation networks, ports, airports, and undersea cables carry the weight of global connectivity. While automation and software increase efficiency, they also multiply vulnerabilities.

A prolonged disruption to any one of these systems can paralyze thousands of businesses. Multiple disruptions at once could be catastrophic. The 2021 winter storm in Texas, though caused by weather rather than malware, is a sobering example. The blackout cost up to $130 billion and crippled supply chains, health services, and agriculture. Imagine a hostile actor triggering similar failures via cyberattack, deliberately timed for maximum damage. The result would not only devastate individual entities but also generate a macroeconomic shock—akin to a natural disaster colliding with a financial crisis.

The growing threat landscape

State-backed hackers and criminal groups are already probing these vulnerabilities. The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack in 2021 exposed how fragile logistics networks can be, while the more recent Volt Typhoon campaign embedded malware inside U.S. critical infrastructure. Unlike espionage, such intrusions appear designed to disrupt the civilian economy at scale, undermining both national resilience and military readiness.

The threat is also global. Attacks on undersea cables—vital arteries of the digital economy—are no longer hypothetical. With artificial intelligence accelerating offensive capabilities, adversaries can now identify weaknesses faster and automate attacks at scale. As a result, the risk curve is steepening, placing both advanced and developing economies in danger.

The field of cyber economics

Traditional economics treats cyber risk as a minor externality to be covered by insurance. In contrast, cyber economics reframes these risks as systemic. The more integrated and digitized an economy becomes, the more vulnerable it is to disruption. Elevating cyber threats from technical concerns to macroeconomic risks sharpens the case for sustained investment in resilience.

Without realistic, economy-wide accounting of costs, both governments and markets will continue to underinvest in defense and the skilled workforce required. Initiatives such as the Global Cybersecurity Forum–World Economic Forum Center for Cyber Economics, particularly when joined by institutions like the IMF, World Bank, and OECD, represent important first steps.

Who polices, who pays?

The governance dilemma complicates the picture. In the United States, most critical infrastructure is privately owned, meaning investment decisions often follow commercial incentives rather than national resilience. Large utilities may field advanced defenses, while smaller authorities lack the means to keep pace. Even the best-prepared firms cannot realistically deter state-backed attackers without government coordination and international collaboration.

Meanwhile, state-led economies often mandate cybersecurity standards and assume direct responsibility for protecting infrastructure. Liberal democracies, however, struggle to enforce baselines or require immediate reporting. Legal restrictions and fragmented oversight create uneven defenses, leaving the broader economy exposed to “weakest link” failures. The unresolved question of who ultimately pays—federal taxpayers, private firms, or local governments—further delays progress.

The allied dimension

Because cyber threats transcend borders, national strategies alone are insufficient. Attacks on shared assets such as undersea cables, power grids, or data networks ripple across continents. Therefore, allies must elevate cyber resilience as a shared economic security priority. Intelligence sharing, collaborative monitoring, and joint investment in defensive infrastructure can help close gaps that no single nation can address on its own.

A call to action

What is needed now is a paradigm shift. Policymakers, investors, and regulators must recognize that cyber threats to critical infrastructure represent potential macroeconomic shocks, not isolated corporate challenges. The rise of cyber economics highlights that in an interconnected world, cyber defense is economic defense. Ignoring this reality risks overlooking one of the defining macroeconomic threats of our time.

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SAP and Snowflake Unleash the Power of Data and Enterprise AI Across the Business Data Fabric

Published

19 hours ago

November 7, 2025

Integrator Web-Editor

Snowflake, the AI Data Cloud company, and SAP SE, a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, today announced a new collaboration to enable organizations to seamlessly leverage Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud and SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) with semantically rich data. The joint effort will make Snowflake’s data & AI platform available as a SAP solution extension for SAP BDC customers. The new offering, SAP Snowflake solution extension for SAP Business Data Cloud, unites SAP’s deep expertise in mission-critical business processes and semantically rich data with Snowflake’s unified platform capabilities for building AI and machine learning solutions. SAP and Snowflake are also enabling zero copy sharing between SAP BDC and Snowflake to help customers get richer insights, build enterprise-grade intelligent applications and unlock AI-powered innovation that fuels business transformation.

“By tightly integrating SAP and Snowflake, we’re making it simple for enterprises to connect their critical business data with its rich context in SAP with the power of seamless AI app and data agent development at scale in Snowflake,” added Christian Kleinerman, EVP of Product, Snowflake. “Enterprises can now innovate faster with Snowflake and SAP BDC and seamlessly share data between the platforms —zero-copy and fully governed.”

SAP Snowflake brings Snowflake into the open data ecosystem of SAP BDC and the business data fabric–empowering customers with greater openness and choice, while extending SAP BDC with Snowflake’s AI, analytics, data engineering, Marketplace, and collaboration capabilities. Customers can use SAP BDC with SAP Snowflake as a cloud-scale compute and storage option to extend the value of their data. Leveraging bidirectional, zero-copy data access, data and AI teams can work with semantically rich SAP data products in real time, within a unified governance framework. As a result, customers can harmonize SAP and non-SAP data while optimizing total cost of ownership across workloads and build agents and AI applications in SAP Snowflake fueled by trusted SAP data products.

“Bringing Snowflake to SAP Business Data Cloud empowers our customers with openness and choice,” said Irfan Khan, President and Chief Product Officer for SAP Data and Analytics, SAP SE. “Together, we combine SAP’s decades of leadership in mission-critical business applications with Snowflake’s modern data platform to deliver a unified, enterprise-ready, and SAP-supported experience that extends the value of business data across the entire ecosystem.”

With SAP Snowflake, customers can:

Build a trusted, AI-ready data foundation to harmonize SAP and non-SAP data: Unify their data landscape with an integrated business data fabric—enabling more seamless zero-copy sharing, enriched modeling, and a complete, business-ready view of their data in real time for all data engineering, analytics, and AI and machine learning workflows across the enterprise.
Accelerate AI business value with semantically rich data: Simplify AI governance, ground AI in organizational knowledge, and build tailored agents—helping to ensure more secure, context-rich, and intelligent applications across the enterprise.
Develop intelligent applications grounded in mission-critical business data: Build, deploy, and continuously optimize intelligent applications faster with a harmonized and democratized data foundation powered by semantically rich, trusted data products that accelerate the pace of innovation and production.

In addition to SAP Snowflake, the partnership also includes SAP Business Data Cloud Connect for Snowflake, a capability enabling bidirectional, zero copy data sharing with Snowflake. Enterprises already using Snowflake can leverage SAP BDC Connect to integrate their existing instances of Snowflake with SAP Business Data Cloud for more seamless, zero‑copy access, providing Snowflake users with real-time access to semantically rich SAP data products—without duplication.

SAP and Snowflake are supporting thousands of customers, including industry leaders like AstraZeneca, as they transform their industries with this partnership.

“AstraZeneca is constantly pushing the boundaries of science and is pioneering in life-changing medicines,” said Russell Smith, Vice President of ERP Transformation Technology, AstraZeneca. “Data and AI are central to achieving this aim, and our close collaboration with SAP and Snowflake complements our ability to access, process and analyze real-time data. This announcement will accelerate our mission and recognizes that every minute matters to make breakthroughs for patients.”

SAP Snowflake is planned to be generally available in Q1 2026. SAP BDC Connect for Snowflake is planned to be generally available in H1 2026.

Tech News

HONOR Celebrates Everyday Heroes in a Cinematic Tribute to Resilience, Courage, and the Human Spirit

Published

3 days ago

November 5, 2025

Integrator Web-Editor

HONOR, unveils its latest campaign film, “Everyday Heroes” – a cinematic tribute to resilience, courage, and the human spirit. The short film marks the launch of the HONOR X9d – the Unbreakable AI Smartphone – a device designed to endure challenges and keep people connected even in the most demanding conditions.

Through this campaign, HONOR continues its mission to merge innovation with emotion, celebrating individuals who reflect the brand’s belief in human-centric technology and everyday strength. The film tells the story of a high-altitude window cleaner — an unsung hero whose daily work symbolizes perseverance and optimism.

A Tribute to Everyday Strength

“Everyday Heroes” is part of HONOR’s broader storytelling approach, showcasing authentic human experiences that reflect the values of perseverance and hope. The campaign positions HONOR not merely as a technology brand, but as a partner in the human journey — recognizing that the greatest innovations are those that serve people.

From the sunrise that marks the beginning of the worker’s day to the emotional final shot of connection and relief, every frame of the film reflects HONOR’s message: strength, empathy, and innovation belong together. The campaign also honors the invisible heroes of modern cities — those whose contributions often go unnoticed but whose dedication keeps the world running smoothly.

Technology Inspired by Real Life

The HONOR X9d combines robust engineering with thoughtful innovation. Its durable structure and water-resistant design are matched by AI-powered features that make communication seamless and secure. This new device represents HONOR’s continuous efforts to build technology that complements human resilience — technology that keep up with life.

By focusing on real stories and relatable moments, HONOR reaffirms its commitment to creating devices that connect people emotionally, not just digitally. The “Everyday Heroes” campaign builds on the brand’s growing reputation for blending empathy with engineering — bringing to life a message that resonates deeply with consumers across the GCC region.

The campaign film “Everyday Heroes” is available to watch on HONOR Arabia’s official social media channel, accompanied by behind-the-scenes content showcasing the production process and the real-life inspirations behind the story.

Tech News

KINGSTON FURY ADDS ITS LARGEST CAPACITY CLIENT PCIE 5.0 NVME SSD

Published

4 days ago

November 4, 2025

Integrator Web-Editor

Kingston FURY Renegade G5 PCIe 5.0 NVMe M.2 SSD with black heatsink and white branding against blue background with motion light streaks

Kingston Digital Europe Co LLP, the flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced it has rounded out the Kingston FURY Renegade G5 line with an 8192GB full capacity option for high-power uses from video editing, 3D rendering, to gaming and more.

Optimized for those who need a system that can keep up with their workflow or gaming needs, Kingston FURY™ Renegade G5 PCIe 5.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSDutilises the latest PCIe Gen5 x 4 controller and 3D TLC NAND to reach speeds up to 14,800/14,000MB/s read/write¹ and over 2M IOPS to provide extreme performance and endurance, and now with over 8TB to store more of your favorite games and media without losing system responsiveness.

“Whether for work or play, users need more power and space,” said Liny Cheliyan, Business Manager – Prosumer Flash and SSD Kingston EMEA. “We’re happy this 8TB addition to Kingston FURY Renegade G5 SSD can provide high-power users and hardware enthusiasts both.”

Kingston FURY Renegade G5 is available in full capacities² from 1024GB to 8192GB and is backed by a limited five-year warranty³, free technical support, and legendary Kingston reliability.