The problem of “clean water” in the cyber world

// Aapo Cederberg

In a small Finnish town called Nokia, there was a water crisis in 2007 when a valve was accidentally opened, allowing sewage water to mix with clean drinking water. It was wondered why such a connecting valve had even been built in the first place. This poor planning caused a crisis situation that affected the entire town.

The Internet was created to make our lives easier and improve general well-being, as well as to be at the forefront of digitalisation development. At the beginning, no one in the development work could have thought that this system would also have a valve through which “wastewater” could enter.

Through the Internet and global digital networks, cybercrime has emerged, which is said to be the world’s fastest growing business.

The war of destruction raging in Ukraine has spread into a global cyberwar, mixing state and criminal actors. Technology giants collect data on each of us and profile our digital behavior.

This raises the question of how to fix the “clean water problem” of the Internet. It cannot be done by removing one valve, and shutting down the entire Internet is not an option either. A selection of means must be created to solve the problem or at least to reduce adverse effects.

PROJECT CLEAN WATER

A new cyber secure digital road map is needed. It cannot be created in global negotiation forums or through new services offered by digital giants. It can bes created either nationally or by a cyber security culture, which is established on the initiative of every actor critical to society. There are a lot of options available. Digital skills and technologies as well as the possibilities of using artificial intelligence are growing rapidly, and more resources are being used to develop cyber security.

What is lacking is cyber leadership, that is, the ability to create a smart next-generation cyber culture that is proactive, more efficient and user-friendly. It goes without saying that one size does not fit all. Instead, each of us needs a personal digital wallet, which secures our digital independence and everyday needs for digital services.

At the level of companies and organisations, the question is whether one wants to belong to a high-security, medium-security or low-security category. Some require a higher level of security, while others can do with less. Strategic understanding of the situation and leadership are needed to make the right decisions regarding what level one’s operating environment and business requires them to belong to. The necessary know-how and technologies already exist if one has the ability to make the right strategic choices.

For example, it now seems that companies and communities are losing the ability to reliably communicate with their customers and stakeholders, as technology brings in both waste and clean water through the same channel. Each of us as the customer is confused when a bank’s real and malware-generated communications follow each other in the same message chain.

Would now be the time to act? �

AAPO CEDERBERG, Managing Director and Founder of Cyberwatch Finland