But computer risks are harder to handle than physical ones
IT SOUNDS AS if it was named by a seven-year-old boy and looks like a film set. Housed in a sleek black truck, IBM’s “X-Force Command Cyber Tactical Operations Centre” travels from city to city, simulating the experience of falling victim to a cyber-attack. Rows of desks sport monitors and keyboards in a room dominated by three giant video-screens. A control room houses server equipment that allows IBM’s staff to simulate a corporate network—and then throw all manner of digital mischief at it. Teenagers “understand what’s going on straight away”, says Caleb Barlow, who runs the show. Board members at big companies enjoy a visit, too: “It’s so different from what they usually do.”
But their interest is not merely recreational. Companies are increasingly worried about the threats lurking in their computer systems. A survey in 2018 by KPMG and Harvey Nash, a firm of headhunters, found that only a fifth of IT bosses thought their firm was well prepared for an attack.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Black swans and fat tails”
From the January 26th 2019 edition
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