Countries worldwide - and developing countries in particular - recognize the need for digital transformation to foster economic growth, improve efficiency, enable skills development, and advance human and social development.
Countries worldwide - and developing countries in particular - recognize the need for digital transformation to foster economic growth, improve efficiency, enable skills development, and advance human and social development.
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, digitization has become an even more crucial enabler of economic and social development. It is also critical for achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - all of which include digital components.
Realizing the desired economic and social prosperity from increased
Addressing the fast-evolving nature of cybersecurity risks is challenging, largely due to the speed of digital innovation and the proliferation of threats that can impact the safety, prosperity, and resilience of a country.
To address these issues, many countries are developing national cybersecurity strategies (NCSs). Several multinational organizations have also affirmed the importance of adopting comprehensive NCSs.
it was developed by a consortium of over 20 expert organizations from the public and private sectors, inter- and non-governmental organizations, academia, and civil society. The guide serves as an important resource and blueprint for developing and implementing comprehensive, inclusive, and sustainable NCSs that take a country’s specific socio-economic vision, political context, and cultural and societal values into account and encourage the pursuit of secure, safe, and resilient digital societies.
With over 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs expected by 2025 worldwide, governments - especially in developing countries - will be particularly hard-pressed to develop a professional cybersecurity workforce and prevent the brain drain towards better jobs abroad and in the private sector.
Director of Tonga’s Digital Transformation Department, said, “Here in Tonga - and I can speak for most of our Pacific neighborhood islands - we’ll be facing the same issue with employing human resources and trying to keep our experts in the island.”
The State Secretary for Mongolia’s Ministry of Digital Development, expressed concerns about the low adoption rates of national cybersecurity strategies in LDCs and emphasized the importance of cybersecurity and digital skills development to securing the digitization process and, more broadly, ensuring successful development outcomes.
“We live in a world where we already face several inequalities about gender, education, income, and economic levels,” she said, adding that rapid digitization can worsen these disparities. Battsengel concluded that when building cybersecurity capacity, countries should “start with those who have been left out of digital development.”
Moving forward, governments and the international community must channel the necessary resources into capacity building and workforce training initiatives to ensure the long-term sustainability, continuity, and scalability of their digital development and cybersecurity projects.
The exchange of information on the development and successful implementation of national cybersecurity strategies, coupled with new and enhanced financial assistance mechanisms and stronger international partnerships, will do much to strengthen the cyber resilience of developing countries and accelerate a safer digital transformation across the globe.