How does resilience influence Cybersecurity?

The panel for this event smile at the camera

At this timely event, our panel reflected on how cybersecurity has become one of the most important concerns across countries and economies globally. There are an increasing number of cyberattacks in various sectors of the tangible economy (e.g. energy infrastructure) and nontangible economy (e.g. social platforms). It has become imperative to consider appropriate approaches to address cybersecurity risks. Cyber resilience is key to business continuity, sustainability, and the growth of economies.

The Panel

Our host for the event Roberto Alvarez - Executive Director, The Global Federation of Competitive Councils (GFCC) began the event by welcoming attendees and introducing our panel of international experts which included:

Professor Ioannis Kokkoris – Professor of Competition Law and Economics, Dean for International, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Queen Mary University of London

Professor Colin Grant - Vice-Principal International, Queen Mary University of London 

Doctor Hideyuki Tokuda - President, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT)

Ron Indeck - CEO, Q-Net Security

Deborah L. Wince-Smith - President, The Global Federation of Competitive Councils (GFCC). President & CEO, Council on Competitiveness (CoC)

Discussion points

The importance of resilience in a cyber focused world

Our panel host Roberto Alvarez highlighted the recent events that had led to this discussion such as the GFCC Frame the Future benchmarking event. Likewise the first of our events which focused on global critical infrastructures were recapped upon in order to set the scene with regards to the theme for this series of events - resilience.

"More important than ever is the resilience of our cyber infrastructure, as we live in a world where digital technology"

Deborah L. Wince-Smith, President & CEO, U.S. Council on Competitiveness pointed towards the pace with which technology continues to tighten its grip on our everyday lives.

However, Deborah was also quick to point out how the pace of change associated with technology can often leave firms wrong-footed and struggling to cope with a rapidly changing environment:

"Lots of organisations do not even take the basic steps that are important for cyber hygiene"

It was Professor Colin Grant - Vice-Principal International, Queen Mary University of London who encapsulated the macro challenge facing organisations and wider society in relation to the rapid advance of cyber technology:

“Can we wrestle the cyber genie back into the bottle? That seems a vague hope.”

He also raised the issue of how cyber was perceived in a broader sense and the negative sentiment that has become associated with it:

“Has cyber in effect become a byword for darkness?”

On the other hand, he balanced these points by highlighting there is clearly an opportunity to improve not only how cyber is viewed and the challenges that arise as a result of it but also to improve visibility of the opportunities for better social justice that come with an improved awareness of the cyber landscape, and how this can be realised through perseverance and resilience: 

“We rarely associate cyber with rights, inclusion or wellbeing.”

Ron Indeck,CEO, Q-Net Security added to the discussion with a clear message that although a cyber attack has immediate ramifications and short term issues for organisations and their infrastructures, what has in fact leveraged awareness of the risks as a result of issues with cyber security is that human life has been put at risk directly or indirectly as a result: 

"More recently we've seen these attacks putting lives in jeopardy - that's changed the calculus for a lot of people." 

Another factor influencing the current cyber security landscape, that of inconsistent global standards was brought to the attention of the panel by Dr Ian Walden, Professor of Information and Communications Law. Director, Centre for Commercial Law Studies Queen Mary University of London as they sought to parlay their collective experiences and expertise:

"We're seeing a proliferation - a jungle - of standards"

Seeking to add another layer of discussion to the event, insight into the trends, sources, and future focus of cyber-attacks came from Doctor Hideyuki Tokuda - President, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT):

"In the past two years or so we have seen an increase in cyber attacks on cryptocurrency and devices attached to The Internet of Things"

Kazuyoshi Shimada - Director of Washington D.C. Office, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) was able to add further insight to the panel discussion in relation to research in the field of cyber security:

"Further interdisciplinary research must be done to develop trust and in order to facilitate the new design of social culture for the future"

The issue of GDPR in relation to cyber security, particularly in Europe was raised by Dr. Ian Walden who was able to summarise the challenges associated with it:

"Rather than thinking, systems, and solutions, far too much money is being spent on the box-ticking elements of this process"

Dr Ian Walden finished the panel discussion with his closing thoughts on ideas for future trends and best practise in terms of cyber security:

"I think the recent issues with servers that caused Facebook to go offline really shines a light on the emerging importance of cloud computing and that will be a theme we continue to see in the future"

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