Experts: Cybersecurity gaps in developing world must be addressed

Despite positive trends that accelerated the emergence of a more resilient cyberspace, the developing world still has large gaps in its online security frameworks, a cybersecurity conference in Saudi Arabia heard this week.

Speaking at the annual Global Cybersecurity Forum in Riyadh on Nov 9-10, experts voiced their concern that developing nations have been lagging on the issue of advancing cyber safety.

Speakers put a spotlight on the gaps that have been hindering some 2.7 billion people from going online, and stressed the need to strengthen the cybersecurity infrastructure in developing countries that are unequipped against cyber attacks.  

Experts said a future, thriving cyber economy will demand stronger digital identities and verification, and people perpetually reskilling to keep pace with the online world’s opportunities

They added that a future, thriving cyber economy will demand stronger digital identities and verification, and people perpetually reskilling to keep pace with the online world’s opportunities. 

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“We’re also seeing gaps and this is where we have to be focusing because countries are advancing but the ones that need to be prepared are the developing and least developed countries, (which) are not advancing quickly enough,” said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, secretary-general elect of the International Telecommunication Union, a specialized United Nations agency for information and communication technologies.

She said that, with the launch of the Global Cybersecurity Index in 2014, more countries were able to benchmark themselves and learn about best practices.

However, she highlighted the lack of certification, strategies and essential expertise, adding that they would need to “dive deep” as “a third of humanity has never connected to the internet”.

“Our new strategic plan has two focuses — universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation, and kind of undercutting both of them is, of course, safe, trusted and secure infrastructure,” said Bogdan-Martin.

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Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, minister of Communications and Digital Technologies of South Africa, said cybersecurity is not only a “personal information issue”, but “also a national security information issue”.

“The conversation I want us to have is: how do we strengthen the collaboration with respect to national security issues but also with respect to the progress of each nation without the domination of one nation over the others?” she said.

In speaking about groups that should not be left behind, Abdullah Alswaha, Saudi Arabia’s minister of communication and information technology, touted his nation’s achievements when it comes to Saudi women in the cybersecurity sector.

The Arab nation has seen the rate of women participation reaching 45 percent in the sector, according to statistics published by the Saudi Federation for CyberSecurity, Programming and Drones, while or way above the global avegae of 25 percent. 

“If you’re talking about how the world is moving from the internet of information to interactions to engagements to experiences, we have to work more closely than ever before,” said Alswaha, adding that it is not only about sharing best practices and standards, but about sharing the “flow of intelligence and insights”, to combat, what he argues, would be “the next digital pandemic”. 

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“History is a great predictor of the future and the past three years have taught us that we are so intertwined, interlinked and interdependent on both the physical front, digital front and the bio front where one virus crippled 75 percent of the supply chains globally,” said the Saudi minister.

“And this is why when it comes to the cybersecurity threat, it is no longer (just a) strategic imperative, but an existential imperative for all of us,” said Alswaha.

Mary Aiken, a global expert in cyberpsychology who studies of impact of technology on human behavior, said the internet was created on the principle that all users are equal, but some users are now more vulnerable, citing children and women who can be targeted disproportionately. 

“I think we’ve had 50 years of cybersecurity but it hasn’t solved the problems. In fact, it’s getting worse,” said Aiken. 

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jan@chinadailyapac.com