Hackers linked to China have infiltrated a series of internet service providers over the past few months, according to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal. This series of attacks is just one of the latest notable cyberattacks reportedly coming from China after FBI Director Christopher Wray warned in January 2024 that Chinese hackers have the potential to “wreak havoc” in the United States.
Government officials and business leaders alike are increasingly concerned about cybersecurity.
Clearly alarmed by the threat government-backed hackers pose, bipartisan lawmakers in the House of Representatives introduced legislation in mid-September 2024 to prevent hackers from nations like China, Russia, and Iran from gaining access to government systems. Representative Pat Fallon (R-TX) said, “We are at an inflection point, which means we must do everything in our power to protect our vulnerable systems from cyberattacks and intrusion from our enemies.”
In a recent CFO conference hosted by Fortune, former White House cybersecurity coordinator J. Michael Daniel told attendees that cybercrime is increasingly common because “criminals have figured out that this is a pretty good business model,” referring specifically to the form of cybercrime that utilizes ransomware.
Technological attacks could hurt financial markets.
If one of the primary goals of these cybercriminals is gaining money, it should come as no surprise that hackers are also targeting financial markets. According to reports from CNBC, markets and public companies are growing targets for Russian hackers in particular, though it’s not hard not to imagine other nations jumping on that bandwagon if those hackers prove successful.
The effects of these attacks could also spread to entire financial systems. Regular “Gold News & Views” readers may recall that earlier this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wrote, “Incidents in the financial sector could threaten financial and economic stability if they erode confidence in the financial system, disrupt critical services, or cause spillovers to other institutions.”
Physical gold could act as a hedge against the risk of cyberattacks.
To me, the increasing concern over our reliance on vulnerable technologies presents a call to action—and one more reason to diversify our portfolios with assets that can exist outside of the traditional financial system.
Physical assets like precious metals are a key component of wealth protection in the digital age. Now could be the best time to act, acquiring gold and silver before prices reach the new highs predicted by banks and other analysts—and before a major cyberattack finally manages to do significant or lasting harm to our financial system.
