The Cybersecurity Tech Accord is proud today to announce the release of a new whitepaper, Cybersecurity Awareness in the Commonwealth of Nations developed in partnership with the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO). The paper, a draft of which was first released for comment last October, discusses the importance of national efforts to develop cybersecurity awareness at all levels of a society, provides industry guidance to support such programs, and catalogues awareness raising activities taking place across the 53 states that make up the Commonwealth of Nations.
The
wide diversity of this collection of nations – which spans 5 continents and
includes some of the world’s largest and smallest countries – is reflected in
how they each approach promoting cybersecurity awareness based on their respective
capacities, needs and cultures. Indeed, we are grateful for the many
contributions we have received on these programs from organizations like the
International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Get Safe Online, and the FCO, as
well as representatives of respective Commonwealth member states. This input has
been invaluable in completing this paper and beginning to paint an overarching
picture of what different approaches to cybersecurity awareness look like
throughout the Commonwealth.
All
told, the paper includes information on more than 65 cybersecurity awareness
initiatives across 43 of the Commonwealth states. And what is most surprising,
and encouraging, is how many of them have only been developed just in the past
year or two, suggesting a growing recognition of how important these efforts
are. Amidst escalating numbers of threats and attacks online, there is no
better defense than a robust culture of cybersecurity among individuals and
organizations. Far from trying to evaluate the particular merits of one program
or another, this paper simply seeks to capture how different countries are
approaching this issue. We hope that by sharing the wide range of different
approaches we can help governments to learn from one another and continue to
develop and improve their own programs, both in the Commonwealth and beyond.
That
said, in addition to identifying the different approaches states have taken,
the paper also provides high-level guidance from an industry perspective about
what characteristics make for effective cybersecurity awareness campaigns and
programs. The Cybersecurity Tech Accord believes such initiatives should strive
to be:
- Up-to-date – This is
essential in order to keep pace with a constantly changing threat environment
online; - Recursive – Cybersecurity
awareness is not a box to be checked, but rather something that needs to be revisited
and reinforced regularly; - Inclusive – All who use,
or will use, ICTs should be aware of cyber risk so they are not victimized, so
awareness efforts need to cut across cultural, gender, and any other lines of difference; - Culturally responsive – While there
is much we can learn from one another across nations and stakeholder groups,
awareness campaigns need to be tailored to the needs of their local contexts;
and - Multistakeholder – To be
effective, cybersecurity awareness efforts should leverage the expertise and
insights of relevant industry and civil society organizations.
We were reminded, in
particular, of the importance of multistakeholder cooperation in these efforts
during our recent participation in the UN
dialogues on cybersecurity in December. A consistent theme throughout the
three-day meeting was the challenge of matching needs with expertise when it
comes to cybersecurity, and the value of building relationships across
stakeholder groups to facilitate this exchange. Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility
and we are glad for the opportunity to partner with the FCO in producing this
paper; to take steps to bridge the gap between needs and expertise. We hope you
find the insights included valuable in considering awareness programs in your
own country, and stand ready to provide further support for such efforts in the
future.
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