Carmen Ene is CEO at 3stepIT and BNP Paribas 3 Step IT, one of Europe’s leading circular technology lifecycle management providers.
The Davos, Switzerland, resort was once again alive with activity in January as world leaders gathered to discuss how to tackle global challenges, with climate change once again at the top of the agenda. However, this year, another critical issue vied for the delegates’ attention: cybersecurity. And for good reasons.
The 2023 World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Risks Report, published in January, put cybersecurity in the current and future top 10 risks globally. The cost of cybercrime is projected to hit an annual $10.5 trillion by 2025. By the same token, Gartner analysts predict that over the next two years, 45% of global organizations will be impacted in some way by a supply chain attack.
Digital Dependence And Risk
The increased complexity of the current digital landscape partially explains why cybersecurity came to the fore in Davos. Technology is ever more intertwined with our lives and rapidly developing. It’s also an essential factor in the resilience of cities, economies, governments, businesses and individuals—crucial to enabling growth and mitigating risk.
As technology’s role continues to evolve, our dependence on it also grows. There will be almost twice as many connected devices—15 billion—in the world this year as there are people. Of course, high levels of dependency directly correlate to high levels of risk. The more complex and all-encompassing our networks and systems become, the more devastating the impact is when they don’t function.
In the wake of the pandemic, businesses have seen the power of tech transform industries overnight, as digitalization became the global rescue package. But research by the World Economic Forum indicates that only 4% of organizations are confident that “users of connected devices and related technologies are protected against cyberattacks.” This vulnerability can potentially have serious consequences for businesses, often in the form of major operational, financial, legal and reputational damage.
Global Challenge, Global Response
A number of key cybersecurity recommendations emerged from Davos, but they all pointed in the same direction—collaboration, collaboration and more collaboration. Working together across international borders and throughout every part of the supply chain is crucial to tackling an issue as widespread as digital security.
Regulation and governance are essential tools, but to date, they’ve struggled to keep up with the rapid advancements being made by the tech industry. In the EU, the Cyber Resilience Act places new requirements on manufacturers and suppliers to prioritize cybersecurity throughout the life cycle of hardware and software, as well as supporting businesses and consumers to use technology more securely. Every international jurisdiction has tackled this issue in one guise or another, but cybercrimes are borderless, and so must be the response. International, cross-sector cooperation on this issue must be the next step.
Only As Strong As The Weakest Link
The recent WEF recommendations also stress the need to embed security and privacy by design, arguing that many organizations treat cybersecurity as reactive—often resorting to damage control rather than proactively planning for security from the very start. In fact, cybersecurity demands vigilance across every part of the supply chain—from cradle to grave—and it must be strategically built in from the beginning as part of an entirely new operating model, just like sustainability.
And like sustainability, it’s clear that there’s much to gain for businesses and society alike in extending cybersecurity planning beyond the four walls of an organization and across the whole value chain. Just like our natural resources, what happens to data—both upstream and downstream—needs to become part of the equation.
The reality is that organizations are at risk across every part of the device life cycle, which is why tech procurement strategies must today include an upfront plan about what happens to data not just during use but also at the end of the life of devices. To mitigate risk, a comprehensive, full life cycle approach to security must become the new normal for businesses.
The Case For End-To-End Control
Data protection for end-of-life devices is a new consideration for many businesses, prompted by high-profile cases that made headlines. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) now identifies IT asset disposal as a critical factor to consider when planning for organizations’ protection against software supply chain attacks.
New procurement models that support organizations in embracing tech products as a service often come with a host of data benefits, including in-life asset and data management, as well as automated end-of-life processes that help ensure secure transport, data erasure and the redeployment of devices to new users.
This approach not only helps create a secure chain of custody throughout the device life cycle, but it also wraps security and sustainability into one solution. A rigorous approach to data security over the full life cycle is critical in giving organizations the confidence they need to allow the repair and reuse of their assets once they’re no longer required—a crucial component of the transition to a circular economy for technology.
Connectivity And Collaboration
With every global summit—from COP28 to Davos—the case for collaboration grows. Only by finding partners that are committed to solving big global challenges like cybersecurity and sustainability will we make the progress that’s urgently needed.
Like the problem, the solution to better privacy and security transcends borders, supply chains and industries. By joining forces, we can build the new normal of technology: used rather than owned, secure by design, systematically managed during and after use and governed by clear, consistent global policies.
