National cyber strategy: why it pays to be organized

As President Joe Biden unveils the US National Cybersecurity Strategy, drafted to secure the country’s digital ecosystem, Cybernews takes a deep dive into why such a policy will be crucial to fending off threat actors.

Nowadays, large amounts of sensitive information are processed and stored using digital solutions. Both private and government organizations have adopted technology to facilitate customer services and enhance operations. This has resulted in better overall service and increased competitive advantages. However, it also allows threat actors to infiltrate IT systems and steal sensitive data.

The cost of cyberattacks is increasing every day and has been projected to rise to a global total of more than $10 trillion by 2025. This cost will become more significant as more business functions, and customer data, are moved into the cloud.

Cybersecurity is a complex challenge. As well as requiring one to handle sophisticated tools, it also involves dealing with various regulatory, operational, technical, and legal aspects of the problem.

Most people consider cybersecurity issues to be a direct threat both to individuals and corporations, including social media platforms. However, as the world becomes more connected, criminals are using technology to target critical national infrastructure such as water supplies, electricity grids, transportation, healthcare, and the communications sector.

Such attacks can have catastrophic consequences on the targeted country, requiring a comprehensive national cybersecurity strategy that takes into account the different vectors threat actors can exploit to attack IT systems.

Strategy in a nutshell

A national cybersecurity strategy is a crucial plan for any country to have. It outlines how to counter challenges facing a nation’s IT infrastructure, and suggests how to increase resilience against cyberattacks and other threats coming from cyberspace.

Such a strategy is essentially an official government policy framework that sets the primary approaches to establishing cyber defenses for a country’s public-sector organizations, private companies, and citizens. It is not the sole responsibility of governments to establish a national cybersecurity strategy: private enterprises, universities, and research centers must also work to create it.

Although the primary aim of such a strategy is to protect critical IT infrastructure, each country may have its own priorities. Developed countries might focus on safeguarding public infrastructure, intellectual property secrets, and other government information. Other nations may choose instead to concentrate on protecting personal data of citizens or private-sector trade secrets.

Key benefits

By establishing a national strategy, a country can enhance its cybersecurity posture compared to other nations, making it a more attractive partner for foreign businesses and governments. Its ability to safeguard sensitive information and maintain critical infrastructure should thus ultimately lead to economic growth.

Besides decreasing the number of successful cyberattacks, a national strategy will promote security practices that should be followed by all organizations operating within a country. This will emphasize the need to raise public awareness regarding cyber threats and the adoption of robust security measures to counter them, safeguarding critical infrastructure, and protecting citizens' sensitive information.

A national strategy will enhance collaboration between organizations, allowing them to share cyber threat information and expertise, and can help to establish unified IT policies across a country. This, in turn, can help prevent confusion and inconsistency in cybersecurity, making it more effective.

Developed countries depend heavily on technology to deliver services to citizens and increase prosperity, but advances in nanotechnology, biotechnology, and robotics cannot be deployed without proper cyber defenses. A national strategy will ensure the security of a country's digital ecosystem, allowing these new technologies to be used by both individuals and organizations safely.

Threat actors, especially those sponsored by nation-states, have the resources to conduct damaging attacks against critical public infrastructure. The term cyberwarfare refers to using digital technologies – primarily via the internet – to disrupt critical public infrastructure, such as health and telecommunications facilities. A national cybersecurity strategy will help to counter such attacks.