Recently our Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called for the need to have cybersecurity experts to work closely with the authorities in enhancing national resilience. National resilience is a big word that refers to how a nation’s ability to cope with any adversities. While the concept of resilience itself can be applied to many situations, one of the elements that is frequently linked to national resilience is the digital resilience. This is a consequence of us living in a highly digitalized environment where lack of digital skills and knowledge would make us being left behind from competing with other countries.
Having said about the urgency of being national resilient, the next interesting concept is the digital resilience that encompasses the ability of a government to withstand, adapt and recover form cyber threats, data breaches, and other technological disruptions. Digital resilience is crucial in the current world full of rapid digital transformation where technologies are used to improvise if not elevate the economy and the society. With heavy usage of digital technologies, there bound to be cyber threats as people are becoming more advanced in their digital skills while hovering the internetworked space.
Being a digitally resilient government is important as cybersecurity threats can disrupt public services, disrupt national security and post threats to economic stability. Digital resilience is also linked to having sufficient digital infrastructure in maintaining efficient and securing public services operations. Hence, the importance of data protection and privacy in public trust could be enhanced.
Nonetheless, digital resilience comes with a number of challenges. For example, combating cybersecurity threats at national level is one of the key agenda of the government to ensure that the government systems are protected from threats caused by hackers and intruders. The next challenge is to ensure there is lesser digital divide among those who have access to national IT infrastructure and those who do not especially between the urban and rural areas. Protecting government legacy systems which are already outdated can be very costly as they may not be compatible with the latest systems yet they still have the data that the government requires. Finally, managing national data security at a global landscape could be difficult as the data are flowing freely from all over the world. All of these require a wholistic approach from many parties to overcome or lessen the impacts to the nation.
Some strategies to enhance government digital resilience include having cybersecurity framework encompassing policies and standards that need to be implemented in all government units and departments. Next is turning to cloud computing and data backup to ensure public services continuity to preserve the image of the government. The move to having public-private partnership for cybersecurity solutions is going to assist the government in exploiting the knowledge and experts to better manage the cybersecurity threats, Integrating AI and automation for threats and detection is also another solution that government can look into and finally planning for capacity building to train public servants on cybersecurity best practices would ensure that the government overall human capital are digitally resilient.
A few examples of government initiative cases could be cited to promote the importance of digital resilience in the government. Singapore for example has focused on their Singapore’s Smart Nation Initiative which include putting investments into cybersecurity and digital transformation efforts. Estonia, has implemented the Estonia’s e-Government System which is a blockchain-based security system for public services. And our country has taken bold steps in coming up with the Malaysia’s National Cyber Security Strategy which focuses on our digital infrastructure. These are just a few initiatives that show the importance of digital resilience especially in public services.
Now, having known the challenges and strategies that the government has planned to build government digital resilience, what can we do as citizens? We could promote cyber hygiene which means the practices and procedures that we use to maintain the health and security of all our digital systems, network, devices and data whether at work or home. We could strengthen the collaboration between citizens and government in reporting security issues so that faster response could be initiated. Last, we could always organize awareness campaigns on digital security threats among public to educate them about the implications. Even though the participation of citizens in building digital resilience is limited, the future will more secured with the involvement of all stakeholders.
In short, building a nation that is digitally resilient does not happen overnight. It has immense challenges and strategies need to be crafted to manoeuvre the bumpy roads ahead. Continuous digital innovation and stronger cybersecurity policies are needed to achieve this vision as a whole-of-government approach. Final note, let’s build government digital resilience, secure the future for our next generations.
Prof. Dr. Noor Ismawati is a Professor at the Department of Decision Science, Faculty of Business and Economics at Universiti Malaya.
