Fearmongers have questioned the nature of internet freedom for decades but, with high-profile cyber security companies like Kaspersky getting caught in the crossfire between recent Russian and American politics, many are now asking how other companies, and indeed how nation states, can protect themselves from having to fall in line behind the emerging cyber superpowers.





“The idea of cyber balkanisation is something that you see in contrast to an idealised internet that is open and free and accessible by everyone; one that allows uninterrupted and unmonitored direct communication from person to person,” comments SecureData chief security strategy officer Charl van der Walt. “For me, that's the promise that the internet holds, and balkanisation is really the slow degradation of that.





“It isn't a new thing. For example; the vendor that produces your desktop also wants to own your view of the internet as they want to drive traffic to websites that bring them money. When a country censors content online, that’s another example.”