Cyberwar, the modern warfare?

16

October

2018

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Before we dive deeper into this subject, lets explain what cyberwar actually means: “the use of computer technology to disrupt the activities of a state or organization, especially the deliberate attacking of information systems for strategic or military purposes.”

 

Twenty years ago people wouldn’t believe that something like a cyberwar could exist. Nowadays it still sounds a bit science fiction like. But last week, the dutch minister of defense stated that the Netherlands is in “cyberwar” with Russia. This statement was made after the arrest of Russian hackers in the Netherlands. These hackers were trying to gain intelligence from the OPCW, a chemical weapon watchdog. The OPCW is currently investigating sensitive affairs for the Russians like the use of chemical weapons by Syria and the alleged poisoning by Russia of some its defected spies. According to the Dutch minister, this hack attempt shows that the nature of warfare has changed a lot.

 

Another great example was the stuxnet worm attack on Iran in 2010. The USA attacked the nuclear infrastructure of Iran with a computer virus. The virus was send to computers connected to uranium centrifuges and would let these centrifuges spun to quickly, resulting in a broken uranium centrifuge. This attack did great harm to the nuclear activities of Iran.

 

So what can we expect from the future? The things that are known to the public, like the Russian hack attempt on the OPCW and the stuxnet worm attack are probably only the tip of the iceberg. A lot is already going on when it comes to cyber warfare. Taking the technological developments into consideration it is logical to expect bigger and more breaking attempts to disrupts activities through the use of computer technology in the future.

 

References:

Hoe de Russische hackers in beeld kwamen bij de MIVD | NU – Het laatste nieuws het eerst op NU.nl. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.nu.nl/weekend/5498621/russische-hackers-in-beeld-kwamen-bij-mivd.html

Minister van Defensie: cyberoorlog met Rusland. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2018/10/14/minister-van-defensie-cyberoorlog-met-rusland-a2510671

Stuxnet Worm Attack on Iranian Nuclear Facilities. (2018). Retrieved from http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2015/ph241/holloway1/

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Your career as a learning journey

25

September

2018

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In the past it was normal to work at one company for the duration of your professional career. Nowadays people are changing from employer every five years on average. Careers last longer than in the past, due to higher life expectancy and falling birth rates. The pressure on the “traditional” working class (aged 20 to 55) becomes higher and this will result in more people working past the normal retirement age. In addition to all this, the average skills of the workforce are not able to keep up with the technological development we experience nowadays.
The shorter average tenure in a job, longer duration of the careers and the technological development is causing a considerable shift in the world of corporate learning and development. Where formerly corporate learning and development* was a form of transferring some corporate skills through boring classroom sessions. Learning has become one of the most important things employees look for. People want to continuously develop themselves during their career to be able to align with evolving professions and industries. However the learning and development must fit into the busy living and working schedule of employees.It is safe to say that a lot of challenges have occurred in the corporate L&D industry during this turbulent time: People want relevant information to develop themselves in an easy to consume way, fitting in their day to day schedule.
The quest that has started in the corporate L&D industry to find the perfect mix between on- and offline learning, in order to meet all the aforementioned needs. It is necessary to develop smart learning solutions that will help people develop throughout their career in an efficient way. There is no doubt that exciting times have arrived when it comes to corporate learning and development.
Your career has become a learning journey in order to move from role to role throughout your career in a constantly changing environment due to technological development.

 

* Will be abbreviated to L&D in the remainder of the blog

 

Sources:

BBC News. (2018). How long should you stay in one job?. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-38828581 [Accessed 21 Sep. 2018].

Deloitte Insights. (2018). Careers and learning: Real time, all the time. Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/focus/human-capital-trends/2017/learning-in-the-digital-age.html [Accessed 21 Sep. 2018].

Josh Bersin. (2018). The Disruption of Digital Learning: Ten Things We Have Learned – Josh Bersin. [online] Available at: https://joshbersin.com/2017/03/the-disruption-of-digital-learning-ten-things-we-have-learned/ [Accessed 21 Sep. 2018].

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