It is 2020, the end of a decade. Putting things in perspective for the new decade to come, what should our worries be in terms of keeping our private information safe?
Getting confident with data sharing
The Internet of Things is evolving, 5G is expanding at a hectic pace, industries are embracing digitalization more and more, and societies are finally seeing, in their day to day, the benefits of using smart data. With all this, people are getting more comfortable with sharing their data and getting less and less afraid of doing so. Nonetheless, is that counterproductive? Are we confidently opening our doors to something we should be looking at through the spyhole?
One thing we know for sure: governments are, indeed, getting more concerned and aware of the need to increase their citizens’ cybersecurity. An example? The Spanish government has decided to install a hot line for cybersecurity emergencies and concerns. It is addressed at parents and educators (to better protect minors in the online environment), at companies and workers that use the IoT for their business and economic activities, and at citizens in general who use the Internet for private uses.
The purpose of this hotline is making cybersecurity part of the Spanish citizens’ day-to-day lives. This is a very important mindset shift: evolving from the protection of material things to intangible ones means that we have finally understood how valuable our data is and how appetizing it looks to cyberhackers.
The preventative culture
Cyber delinquency is a highly lucrative business and we need to be prepared to fight this increasing appetite for our private data. The Director of the Spanish Cybersecurity National Institute (the organism responsible for the instalment of the Spanish cybersecurity hotline), Rosa Díaz Moles, talks about a very interesting concept: the preventative culture. She states that governments need to start developing this concept and, even more important, investing in it.
However, there is no need for spreading an alarmistic vision of smart data beforehand. There is still a long way to go in the evolution of cybersecurity. As Ms Díaz says: ‘cybersecurity is a growing sector. We have the opportunity to generate a new industry network that can offer new products and services in order to answer the demand’.
Now we must prioritize finding the way to make our private data less appetizing by making it inaccessible.