Trend · rank 80 of 250

Critical infrastructure protection

Energy, water, transport and telecoms systems are becoming more digitally controlled and distributed, increasing their exposure to attack and making coordinated physical defence, access control and threat assessment a national security task.

National SecurityConflict & securitydefencecyberresilience

Second pass: Carried forward from the first pass unchanged. Held by all three panel models.

Sensitivity and network position

Rank
80of 250
Sensitivity
10.0rank 111
Breadth
2of 20 scenarios High or above
PageRank
39.3rank 99
Eigenvector
4.7
Betweenness
32.5
Links
19trends at Moderate similarity or above
Composite
26.4

Attention over three years

How much this trend is read about on Wikipedia and searched for on Google, week by week, set against the typical trend in the list so that what moves every trend at once is taken out. 100 is this trend's own three-year average. The score measures public attention, which is not the same as the strength of the force: a trend can deepen unnoticed, and a news event can lift attention for a fortnight.

Now
121
Over a year
+19%Rising
Over three years
+23%
Peak
1439 Aug 2026
Sources
Bothagreement -0.21
Coverage
12languages · 57 nations

Trailing 4-week average. 100 is this trend’s three-year average.

By language

Wikipedia reading in each language edition where the trend’s pages are read enough to measure (12 of 28). Share is of all the readers counted.

LanguageShareNowOver a yearThree years
English66%100+6%
Russian8%81−20%
German6%130+6%
French5%105+5%
Spanish3%101+8%
Japanese2%104+39%
Italian2%74−9%
Chinese2%82−18%
Ukrainian2%73−26%
Polish2%64−36%
Dutch1%82−14%
Arabic1%93−14%

By country

Google search interest over the three years, as a share of each country’s searching. 100 is the nation where interest is highest. The search terms are English, which favours countries that search in English.

Singapore

South Korea

Australia

United Arab Emirates

United States

China

Kenya

Netherlands

United Kingdom

Canada

Ireland

Switzerland

100

61

57

53

53

39

38

37

34

33

33

33

The 12 highest of 57 nations with a reading.

By region and G20 member

Attention to this trend inside each place, from Google searches made in its countries and Wikipedia reading in the languages mostly read there, averaged where both exist. Each line compares the trend with its own past in that place; the lines do not compare places.

Regions

PlaceRead fromNow90 days1 year3 yearsThree years
North AmericaGoogle in 2 countries + Wikipedia in English114+2%+16%+29%
EuropeGoogle in 8 countries + Wikipedia in German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch104−5%+6%+35%
Indo-PacificGoogle in 5 countries + Wikipedia in Japanese, Chinese104+12%+12%−1%
South AsiaGoogle in 1 country130−11%+32%+96%
Gulf and Middle EastGoogle in 1 country + Wikipedia in Arabic103+13%−8%+17%
Latin America and CaribbeanGoogle in 6 countries + Wikipedia in Spanish130+2%+32%+70%
Russia and EurasiaWikipedia in Russian, Ukrainian79−12%−22%−28%

G20 members

PlaceRead fromNow90 days1 year3 yearsThree years
ArgentinaGoogle119−17%+4%+117%
AustraliaGoogle99+3%+11%−7%
BrazilGoogle253+10%+192%+1742%
CanadaGoogle126−12%+45%+70%
FranceGoogle + Wikipedia in French106−1%+0%+19%
GermanyGoogle + Wikipedia in German120−3%+17%+141%
IndiaGoogle130−11%+32%+96%
IndonesiaGoogle126+37%+9%+41%
ItalyGoogle + Wikipedia in Italian90−2%−6%−11%
JapanGoogle + Wikipedia in Japanese102+45%+18%−14%
South KoreaGoogle120−4%+51%+31%
MexicoGoogle120+2%+5%+50%
RussiaWikipedia in Russian81−11%−20%−27%
TürkiyeGoogle114+33%−3%+24%
United KingdomGoogle149+19%+45%+112%
United StatesGoogle + Wikipedia in English114+5%+13%+26%

Relation to each scenario

A trend relates to a scenario when it changes how likely the scenario is, how hard it lands, or is itself sharply changed by it. Each score is the median of three scores given separately by the members of the model panel.

RelationScenarioFamily
5 · Very highHybrid coercion ends in an infrastructure blackout S04Geopolitical and security
4 · HighA regional war closes a globally important sea route S03Geopolitical and security
3 · ModerateA major disaster disables the national economic core S07Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedCritical trade divides into rival blocs S01Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA global funding seizure reaches sovereign balance sheets S02Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA disputed transfer of power breaks effective government S05Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedTwo breadbasket failures trigger a food availability crisis S06Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedAn AI deployment step causes abrupt labour displacement S08Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA cryptographic breakthrough invalidates digital trust S09Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA novel respiratory pathogen exceeds health surge capacity S10Health
0 · Not relatedA creditor agreement releases fiscal capacity S11 ↗Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA cross-regional market access compact redirects investment S12 ↗Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA great-power agreement lowers economic security barriers S13 ↗Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedA verified Middle East settlement restores access S14 ↗Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedCheap firm clean power becomes available at scale S15 ↗Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedA validated farming package raises water-efficient output S16 ↗Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedAI-directed research produces a reproducible discovery step S17 ↗Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA public service platform reaches inclusive operation S18 ↗Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedAffordable preventive treatments reduce chronic illness S19 ↗Health
0 · Not relatedA live outbreak proves rapid distributed pandemic defence S20 ↗Health

Similarity = 0.3 × shared tags (Jaccard) + 0.3 × likeness of scenario profiles (cosine) + 0.3 × likeness of names and descriptions (TF-IDF cosine) + 0.1 if in the same capability domain, cut into seven levels at 0.12, 0.22, 0.33, 0.45, 0.58, 0.72. Shown at Moderate and above.

SimilarityTrendThemeRank
4 · HighWhole-of-society resilienceConflict & security43
4 · HighState cyber intrusion & prepositioningConflict & security130
4 · HighRansomware & cyber extortionConflict & security164
4 · HighHybrid & grey-zone coercionConflict & security173
3 · ModerateTelecom network resilienceEnergy, networks & climate resilience35
3 · ModerateAlliance realignment & burden-shiftingConflict & security62
3 · ModerateDistributed powerEnergy, networks & climate resilience81
3 · ModerateLong-range strike proliferationConflict & security90
3 · ModerateMilitary logistics complexityConflict & security93
3 · ModerateDrone & autonomous warfareConflict & security97
3 · ModerateRearmament & defence spendingConflict & security136
3 · ModerateConnected infrastructure operationEnergy, networks & climate resilience145
3 · ModerateElectromagnetic spectrum contestConflict & security152
3 · ModerateUndersea military competitionConflict & security154
3 · ModerateMilitarisation of spaceConflict & security166
3 · ModerateSatellite positioning & timing dependenceEnergy, networks & climate resilience190
3 · ModerateAI-supported military decisionsConflict & security199
3 · ModerateEspionage & insider threatConflict & security201
3 · ModerateQuantum sensing & timingConflict & security245