The under 25s didn't experience the Y2K bug. I guess they hear a lot about bug bounty, vulnerability exploitation, penetration testing, etc. However, the end of the year 2000 was marked by a lot of sensations.
What are we really talking about? It was primarily a question of the internal clock integrated into computers, which then only took into account the years on 2 digits, instead of the necessary 4. So when the year 2000 came around, there was fear that computer clocks would go back to 1900.
Everything was looking disastrous, such as the destruction of IT infrastructures, particularly those of banks and power plants. Despite all the preparations and huge amounts of money invested, only a few minor problems occurred after January 1, 2000. No major malfunctions were observed.
Some analysts argued that chaos was avoided because of the massive efforts made by companies and government agencies to fix the Y2K bug. Others argued that the problem was overblown and would not have caused major problems anyway.
As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Y2K bug, what lessons can we learn today about cybersecurity?
Legacy systems are here to stay. Organizations must put policies in place to replace or isolate them.
Cybersecurity is about prevention, so money invested is never wasted.
We must always be prepared to respond to cybersecurity incidents.
There will always be security vulnerabilities to fix, so a vulnerability management process is necessary.
A cybersecurity incident can escalate into a crisis, you must always be ready to activate your pre-established crisis management plan.
As no organization is immune, then your cyber risk insurance can also help.
A self-respecting organization must identify anything that could tarnish its reputation.
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