Question

Determine the impact of cybersecurity and privacy on business, government, and society.

Answer 1

Impact of cybersecurity and privacy on business, government and society.

With the advent of the internet and the social media, the flow of data from all aspects of life has reached its maximum. Be it shopping to getting hospitalized, everywhere we are surrounded by data and internet. In such a world where data is available everywhere in different formats over the internet, it becomes an asset that is easily targeted by the already established category of thieves call cyber criminals. In today’s world, business, government and society base their decisions on the basis of the available data. Therefore, it becomes imperative for all three to ensure that cybersecurity is monolith and non-penetrable. In case any of the above become a victim of cybersecurity breach it could lead to deep ramifications. Let us analyze each in detail:

1. Impact on business

Businesses these days are leveraging technology to accomplish their day to day functions. If there is lack of focus on cybersecurity, it could lead to great damages for the business. Cybersecurity attacks can cause financial losses to organizations in the form of information loss, system failures, trading glitches, and at times damage to physical systems – all leading to financial losses.

Other than this there is a major loss of reputation which will lead to dilution of the brand image especially if the business is in the financial sector. Other than this there are legal complications as well which may be invoked in case there is theft of customer’s information.

Therefore, all organizations need to ensure that all of its employees are aware of data protection policies and follow strict data maintenance and sharing guidelines

2. Impact on Government

For the government it is all the more important to ensure that their cybersecurity is in place. With the advent of the internet and computers that generate and store vast amounts of data ranging from government policies to critical defense systems, it has become imperative the governments implement robust cybersecurity measures.

Moreover, in case there is a breach of security in any government facility or financial institution which threatens the privacy of the citizens, the government needs to come up with suitable legislations so that the attack doesn’t repeat and suitable measures are taken to ensure that the learning from the attack are used to prevent any similar attacks in the future. Since governments across the world maintain their citizen’s data, the cybersecurity in governments becomes critical factor in maintaining the privacy of the citizens

3. Impact on Society

With more than half of the world population present on social media in the present times, it has become easy for cybercriminals to use the readily available information for their own advantage. Their acts may infringe upon the rights of the individuals for privacy. Moreover, legislations implemented by governments may compromise the citizens’ right of freedom of expression like in china. However, the biggest risk to the society is that of hate crimes and forward messages on chat platforms which spread fake news and target a particular community. It is safe to say that cybersecurity infringements lead to creating an imbalance in the status quo of the society. And any such force is bound to create chaos. Therefore the legislations have to such that they protect the rights of the individuals and at the same time enable the authorities to stop such crimes by nipping them in the bud.