Cybersecurity: A concern for everybody

Over the four-day weekend, a long-time friend living abroad reached out to me via social media to ask about another friend she could not seem to personally reach but who had recently messaged her to ask for financial assistance, supposedly to create a fund to help out journalist colleagues who need money for their medical expenses.

I was surprised and immediately suspicious because our mutual friend was not likely to make such a request and warned that our friend’s account may have been hacked. I also immediately informed our mutual friend, who had previously told me that there had been an attempt to clone her account.

This story, of course, is nothing new. However, it again demonstrates how important it is to be conscious and aware of how to protect our cybersecurity as we all become more dependent on the internet to interact socially, financially, and professionally.

Being part of the Baby Boomer Generation, I am among those who are still trying to fully understand how to navigate the digital world and consistently ask for assistance and education about the continuing changes and challenges.

I, of course, remain highly suspicious and still insist on hard copies and paperwork for all my financial transactions, even as most institutions try to force their clients to go paperless – something which I find dangerous because, in any legal dispute, it is much safer to have the necessary documents and paperwork rather than have to request digital copies of the transactions.

I, thus, started reading about cybersecurity and chanced upon an online article published by the World Economic Forum (WEF)  on Feb. 15 this year titled “Cybersecurity is a Social Issue.”

What surprised me most is that, contrary to my perception that it is the younger generation that is at the forefront of concern for safeguarding their security in cyberspace, apparently, they are the least concerned and should really take the lead to demand more vigilance in cybersecurity.

According to the WEF article, “Young people are at the forefront of advocating for causes ranging from climate action to gender equality and mental health. But they aren’t rallying around cybersecurity as a social issue. These are all issues requiring collective action. Why, then, haven’t young people started to demand cybersecurity the same way as they do for other causes?”

The WEF article pointed out that “cybersecurity safeguards the stability of our economy, government, and our communities. If cybercrime were a country, it would have one of the largest economies in the world.

“Cybersecurity shares many similarities with the climate crisis. Both are systemic risks; one threatens the security of our planet and the other the security of our digital livelihood. Both are also consistently in the top five current risks and top 10 risks over both a two-year and 10-year period,” according to the World Economic Forum Risk Report 2024.

When asked at the WEF’s Annual Meeting 2024 why cybersecurity isn’t at the top of young people’s minds, young changemakers from over 40 countries responded that cybersecurity is intangible, inaccessible, and inconvenient.

The article went on to say that “Cybersecurity may not come with the same stark visuals of wildfires or floods, but these digital forest fires have devastating real-world ramifications. For instance, in the United States alone, in 2023, at least 141 hospitals were directly affected by ransomware attacks, affecting their ability to deliver care.

“Cybersecurity may not be a top social issue for young people today, but statistics show that this generation reports higher victimization rates in social media account compromise, phishing, identity theft and cyberbullying. There is a fallacy that young people – the digital natives – are tech-savvy, therefore they must be cyber-savvy. This is an unfounded equivalence. We are living in an increasingly frictionless world, with ride-sharing and food delivery at our fingertips. This sleek entanglement with our digital gadgets can result in individuals choosing convenience over security. Having a higher risk acceptance can subsequently translate to indifference.”

The WEF article pointed out that the responsibility of demanding cybersecurity requires “collective action across public, private, and community stakeholders. Young people must be convinced to spend their already limited time to inspire action; we must instill a sense of immediacy in cybersecurity, however abstract it may seem.

“To make cybersecurity more tangible and urgent, we must consciously and emotionally connect it to social causes young people already care deeply about, bringing it to a meaningful level in a language they already speak. We also need to frame cybersecurity as an enabler for these social issues, and not just a risk to be offset.”

Among the possible dangers cited in the WEF article are cyberattacks on industrial systems that manage hazardous materials, such as water treatment plants, which could create environmental disasters.

Another concern cited in the article is the issue of gender equality, with “gender inequality offline translates to gender inequality online, and technology often creates new vectors to entrench existing inequalities.” Of particular concern, according to the WEF article, are disruptions to public service systems that can impede access to women’s health services and the creation of “artificially generated explicit images, whose consequences are most serious for women and marginalized groups.”

As such, the WEF article emphasized that “for young people championing gender equality, building a cyber-secure digital environment can create a safe space for women to participate in the digital (and by extension, the physical) sphere and not be disincentivized to use new technologies.

“Cybersecurity controls can also help maximize the opportunities of digital technologies while minimizing the mental health harms. The Australian Mental Health Commission’s 2023 report finds that depression, anxiety, self-harm, low self-esteem and loneliness have all been associated with online bullying, with people who have existing mental health concerns being more likely to be bullied. Furthermore, the study finds algorithms and recommender systems also may increase the likelihood of young people seeing harmful and unreliable content online, leading to psychological distress.

“Young people have a key role to play in shaping the future of many social issues, and cybersecurity is an enabler as a tool to safeguard critical infrastructure and a means to create a more inclusive society. It is a purposeful cause in its own right, as a keystone in the architecture of our global community.”

Wake up, kids! If you are even reading this.