We now live in an age where data has surpassed oil, gold, and even freedom as the world’s most valuable resource. Information is power — and whoever controls it holds sway not only over markets, but over entire societies.
Our smartphones, the most intimate devices we own, have quietly become windows through which governments and corporations observe, analyse, and predict our every move.
Christine Gadsby, Chief Security Adviser at BlackBerry, offers a chilling assessment: “Nation-states are the primary threat actors. They share, collaborate, refine their missions, and come back stronger.” She names two of the most aggressive state-backed Chinese hacker groups — Salt Typhoon and APT 41 — as leading examples. APT 41, already pursued by the FBI, has been linked to hundreds of supply chain cyberattacks, while Salt Typhoon has infiltrated networks in over 80 countries, including Australia.
What makes these operations so alarming is their persistence. These groups don’t just break in — they stay. They live within networks, gathering information over time. Even major telecommunications firms and cybersecurity researchers admit it’s nearly impossible to eliminate them entirely, given the unknown depth of their infiltration.
Yet the danger extends far beyond governments and spies. The apps we use daily — social media, free messaging platforms, fitness trackers — constantly harvest vast amounts of metadata: who we contact, where we go, when we connect, and which devices we use. “All that data is for sale,” Gadsby warns. What seems like harmless convenience actually fuels a multi-billion-dollar industry of surveillance, advertising, and manipulation.
Gadsby’s advice is both practical and deeply personal. As a mother of four, she insists her daughters never share their location through apps, opting instead for direct communication. She urges everyone to uninstall unused apps, check permissions, and ask a simple question: “What are you really sharing?”
Digital security, she argues, is not just a technical challenge — it’s a moral and political one. If the West hopes to maintain its autonomy in the face of authoritarian cyberpower, it must reclaim the concept of privacy.
Because in the data age, awareness isn’t a privilege. It’s the last line of freedom we have left.
