Biggest threats to digital communication

Digital communication is threatened by a mix of technical, human, and geopolitical risks that are growing in scale and sophistication.

Malware, ransomware, and advanced persistent threats.
Malicious software, especially targeted ransomware and long-running intrusions, can encrypt, exfiltrate, or manipulate communications and attachments, disrupting services and destroying trust.

Supply-chain and software integrity attacks.
Compromises of third-party libraries, SDKs, or vendor firmware let attackers inject backdoors or weak code into otherwise trusted communications stacks, enabling widespread interception or takeover.

Interception and man-in-the-middle attacks.
Eavesdropping, protocol downgrade, and MitM attacks allow adversaries to read or alter messages in transit when encryption is absent, broken, or improperly implemented.

Denial of service and availability attacks.
Distributed denial-of-service attacks and targeted saturation of infrastructure deny users access to messaging, voice, and collaboration platforms, undermining operations and emergency communications.

Social engineering and human error.
Phishing, credential theft, misconfiguration, and accidental data leaks remain primary vectors for attackers to gain access to accounts, keys, or configuration consoles that control communications systems.

AI-enabled misinformation and manipulation.
Generative AI and automation scale disinformation, impersonation, deepfakes, and automated social-engineering campaigns that degrade the reliability and authenticity of digital conversations.

Nation-state and geopolitical interference.
State actors exploit cyber operations, legal pressure on providers, and infrastructure sabotage to surveil, censor, or disrupt cross-border communications for strategic advantage.