Davos: With cybersecurity emerging as a key topic of discussion at the WEF Annual Meeting here, Interpol Secretary-General Jurgen Stock on Wednesday said cyber attacks pose a global threat that needs a global response. According to a new survey released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) during the ongoing annual meeting, 91 per cent of respondents believe a catastrophic cyber event is at least somewhat likely in the next two years.

During sessions, experts warned that cyberattacks are increasing in sophistication and frequency.

As economic and geopolitical instability spills into the new year, experts also predicted that 2023 will be a consequential year for cybersecurity.

The developments, they said, will include an expanded threat landscape and increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks.

“There’s been an enormous amount of insecurity around the world,” Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince said. “I think 2023 is going to be a busy year in terms of cyber attacks.”

There is also widespread concern that some governments will boost their support to or direct involvement in disruptive cyber operations. “This is a global threat, and it calls for a global response and enhanced and coordinated action,” said Stock, the Secretary-General of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).

“The key to winning the battle against cybercrime is, of course, to work together to make it a priority across the geopolitical fault lines,” he added.

The WEF report found that business leaders are far more aware of cyber threats than the year prior. “As more things get connected to the internet there’s just more risk,” Prince said.

“It’s really important for us to actually build cybersecurity into the network itself,” he added.

“If we can make it so that instead of your coffee maker having to be secure, you can simply say that the network which is connecting into your house is secure from the beginning.”