It’s hard to imagine a business today that could successfully operate without (at the very least) a social media presence (advertising) or an accounting package. When I started out as a technology consultant that was not uncommon at all.
Today, the majority of Australian businesses would be at a complete standstill if they didn’t have their computer network online. Manufacturing has a heavy reliance on process automation, design, logistics and account management. Service organisations will have their office staff on desktops and laptops all day and field staff using portable devices. Have you ever been in a hospital or doctors’ surgery when there was a computer outage?
You could be forgiven for thinking that not enough thought has been placed as to the risks of having so much riding on so few organisations. Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Alphabet, AMD, SAP, Cisco, none of these organisations are controlled by Australian interests. We are a minor customer at best. From the billions spent on the Y2K bug, nothing is being invested in the risks presented by the tech monopolies, even after the massive outages in recent years from Cloudflare and CrowdStrike.
Any future global conflicts will see massive cyber warfare events that will (at the very least) see global communications, if not regional communications disrupted or completely shut down.