WWRF at a CTO Event
The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) hosted a Digital Week in London from 21st-24th May 2024 under the theme “Digital Week – CyberKeys 2024”.
Upon invitation from the CTO Secretary General Bernadette Lewis and to strengthen the collaboration between CTO and WWRF, Knud Erik Skouby (WG Chair, WWRF) participated in the event. Realizing that we live in a hyper-connected world, CTO’s idea with the event was to feature activities designed to promote safety in cyberspace. Knud Erik Skouby served as moderator in a session Tuesday 21st, ‘Risk Management’. The two other participants were Dr. Fayes Yousefi, Professor in Brain-Computer Interaction, Cyber Security, Artificial Intelligence at Liverpool Hope University & Ms Gill Thomas, Director of Engagement, Capacity and Resilience Programme, Global Cyber Alliance.
The session focused on discussion of two aspects of dealing with and managing cybersecurity, technological solutions & empowerment of users. Fayes Yousefi discussed emergent threats based on technological developments as deep fake, biometric and quantum. He emphasized, however, that technologies as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchains and brain-computer interaction and especially integration of these may represent solutions to the emergent threats, but it is crucial that organizations understand the systematic approach to manage risk and use the existing frameworks as ISO, NIST amo. There was agreement in the discussion during the session that the technologically based risk management of cybersecurity is rooted in an environment of ongoing training of staff and updating of systems. Gill Thomas presented two programmes addressing these issues systematically; Internet integrity – building trust by promoting internet transparency and best practices; Capacity and resilience – to empower internet users. The programmes build on the fact that 80% are initiated via phishing and have been relatively unsophisticated.
The overall conclusion from the session was that a combination of advanced technology to counter advanced technology-based threats and empowered users ensuring careful routines, consistent and habitual behavior is needed to manage cybersecurity threats – and that best practice frameworks exist on both areas.