In 2020, governments, businesses, civil society, and citizens across the world banded together in response to one of the most severe global health crises since the 1918 Spanish flu.
As 2021 continues, there is reason for optimism. Vaccine approvals and mass mobilization efforts are underway. Add to that mix an improving economic outlook and there is indeed reason for confidence.
Yet, challenges abound. One of the most significant near-term hurdles facing organizations is continuing to balance bringing people back to the office while maintaining extensive remote work.
In the interim, though, expanding workforce flexibility creates an urgent need to confirm that employees are educated about the inherent cyber risks of working remotely, while also having the tools necessary to protect against cyber attacks.
As organizations rely on new and emerging technologies to accelerate digital transformation efforts, they should view cybersecurity as an imperative at every stage of a systems’ design, development and execution.
When managing risk, it’s a leading practice to verify that all measures are embedded in an organization’s application development processes, protecting data from the start.
For example, in laying out AI design processes, it’s important that businesses familiarize their professionals in risk, cyber, privacy, model risk, and regulatory and compliance-related areas early on and throughout the process.
Organizations can use it to identify and prioritize actions, while aligning policy, business, and technological approaches to managing privacy risk across the data life cycle.
Firms need to develop a data governance framework to manage the challenges posed by the rapid acceleration and scaling of the use of AI and machine learning globally.
And, to this end, human trust forms the basis of broader digital transformation efforts – whether it be related to underwriting loans, recruiting or the use of personal health data.
A thoughtful and holistic approach guided by robust cyber securities, scalable and dynamic risk governance, protections to mitigate data biases, and mechanisms to safeguard personal data are key to achieving true digital trust.