We are on the edge of a new ‘cyber’ space age. This is how we make it a success
Almost exactly 50 years ago, Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the Moon. This remarkable achievement had been unimaginable only years before and has been surpassed by few endeavours since. It is also testament to what is possible through public-private collaboration.
During the 1960s, roughly 90% of NASA’s overall budget was used to purchase goods and services from the private sector. Businesses literally powered man to the moon; North American Aviation built Apollo 11’s Saturn V rocket. Protection against the many complex risks of space travel was just as vital. Goodyear Aerospace regulated engine temperatures operating at almost 3,300˚C. Meanwhile, ILC Dover created spacesuits which protected against the moon’s extreme temperature variations. Without these technologies, space travel would never have been viable.
Today, smart technology places us at the edge of a new ‘cyber’ space age. The combination of connectivity, mobility and data presents almost boundless opportunities. The aim is the same – to advance humanity. And success will require the same ingredients; public-private collaboration and a focus on security and protection against the risks.
The task is formidable. Data breaches continue to rise in both frequency and cost. Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum’s Regional Risks for Doing Business 2018 report showed cyberattacks as the number-one concern for businesses in Europe, East Asia and the Pacific, and North America. And cyberattacks are increasingly migrating from traditional data loss and service interruption to material or even bodily impact.
Neither the public nor private sectors can solve these challenges alone. We need to increase momentum around collaborations, resist silo thinking and recognise that geopolitical tension is a hindrance to the crucial work needed. Organizations such as the World Economic Forum play an important role in bringing stakeholders together and coordinating activities. One example is the World Economic Forum’s Center for Cyber Security, which brings together experts and thought leaders to further address systemic cyber-risks and create tools to better understand it.
At a high level, the key aims for collaboration are three-fold. First, we must build a general culture of resilience, rather than protecting against individual cyberthreats. In the 2018 PwC Global Economic Crime survey, less than half of organizations had conducted a cybercrime risk assessment and only 30% had a cyber-response plan. Meanwhile, many lack a thorough understanding of what their critical data assets are, where they reside, and whom they support. Investment is needed to truly understand what information is needed to sustain critical business operations and protect data.
Public and private sectors must therefore work to increase organizational preparedness. Risk transfer is only one part of the tapestry for cyber insurers, and Zurich Insurance has invested in a new, state-of-the-art Cyber Fusion Center to establish collaboration between highly-skilled cyber threat intelligence, response, forensics, and vulnerability management teams.
