‘Safety and Cybersecurity in a Digital Age’

Abstract

People protect their valuables by locking windows and doors on leaving home, and protect themselves by avoiding unlit alleyways in certain parts of town and checking for traffic when crossing the road. Industry protects its physical and intellectual property by CCTV and alarms, keeping corporate secrets under lock and key, vetting and putting certain constraints on staff and instructing lawyers when infringements occur. We have a risk-based approach to security: we expect certain security measures in a bank or jewellers shop as opposed to a greengrocers; and it would be odd indeed to go to a high profile event or even a large shopping mall and not to see police officers and/or private security staff helping and guiding public order. However in the international and lawless digital environment, taking a risk-based approach to security is more difficult: legitimate commercial and personal activity rubs shoulders with that of nation states, criminals, hackers, and terrorists. Added to this, the distinctiveness of cyberspace provides us all with anonymity, and the ability for us to send large amounts of data anywhere on the planet in a second. Yet, just as in the physical world, there are measures we can take to help protect ourselves in the digital world. But as the sophistication of our online environment increases, we need to look beyond our current security culture to the use of technology and a new way of thinking about who we are in order to protect ourselves.