The Sunday Mail
4IR Simplified
John Tseriwa
THE internet has become essential to our society, enabling us to access information, interact with others, express ourselves and form personal connections worldwide.
In Zimbabwe, 65,4 percent of the people enjoy this privilege, according to the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ)’s 2023 first-quarter report.
POTRAZ is the body that licenses and regulates postal and telecommunications services in Zimbabwe.
As the internet continues to expand rapidly and widely, creating new economic possibilities for billions of people worldwide, it also brings significant challenges. Many people still lack access to the internet, while cyber threats compromise the trust and dependability that are crucial.
We live in an era where cyber breaches and hacking are the order of the day.
Governments, the technology community and corporates must invest in digital trust to ensure our increasingly connected environments are safe and open for everyone to operate with total privacy.
Digital trust is stakeholders’ confidence in digital technologies’ security, reliability, integrity and the data and information they generate, store and process. In an era of ever-present cyber threats and risks, digital trust is essential for organisations to maintain their relationships, reputation and revenue.
Achieving digital trust is difficult, as technology and its threats change quickly. For example, deepfakes. Deepfakes are artificial digital content created using artificial intelligence (AI), which can be used to fake someone’s identity or spread false information.
As a result, people care more about trusting the services they use and want to make sure they are not getting fooled by fake sources.
This prompts business leaders to change and improve how they run their companies, making services or devices more secure and reliable.
Companies are now paying more attention on protecting privacy and data, and getting privacy and security experts involved in their projects and budgets.
Let us briefly discuss the four pillars of digital trust: security, transparency, reliability and user experience.
Security protects data and information from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
Implementing technical measures such as encryption, authentication or firewalls, and organisational policies such as data governance, risk management or compliance increases security.
Transparency is the openness and clarity of data and information practices and policies. It must be communicated how data and information are collected, used, shared and stored, and provide mechanisms for feedback, oversight or redress.
The information services and systems must be consistent to be reliable. Reliability involves ensuring that data and information are accurate, complete and up-to-date, and maintaining services and systems’ availability, performance and resilience.
User experience involves designing services and systems that are user-friendly, accessible, inclusive and engaging, as well as providing support, guidance and education for users.
What are some examples of technologies that can enhance digital trust?
- Using AI to monitor and detect abnormal, fraudulent or malicious activities in data streams such as transactions, communications or network traffic.
AI-based data monitoring can help avoid data breaches, identity theft or cyberattacks by notifying users or the authorities of suspicious behaviour.
- The creation of data trusts, which are legal structures that allow data owners to share their data with third parties in a regulated and governed way.
Data trusts can help to foster collaboration, innovation and social good by facilitating data sharing among stakeholders such as researchers, businesses or governments.
- Blockchain can help to improve transparency, accountability and efficiency by creating a single source of truth that anyone can verify.
- Quantum technologies leverage on the principles of quantum physics to perform tasks that are impossible or impractical with classical computers.
Quantum technologies can help to improve security, privacy and performance by enabling new capabilities such as quantum encryption, quantum key distribution or quantum computing.
To create a future that drives success through digital trust, we need to keep up with the fast changes that happen every day.
To fully grasp the digital environment, reduce confusion and embrace new technology. Cybersecurity is a critical factor that will ensure digital trust between consumers and service providers.
Digital trust is essential for any business; we must ensure that customers are satisfied with giving their data to our firm. The work for a digitally trusted world begins today.
John Tseriwa is a tech entrepreneur and digital transformation advocate focusing on delivering business solutions powered by 4IR technologies. He can be contacted at: [email protected] or +263773289802.
