Cybersecurity has never been higher up the news agenda. Yet in some ways, the recent surge in coverage and attention is misleading. Fundamentally, the issues that need to be solved with global information, communications and technology infrastructure have not changed much in recent years – let alone in recent months. The challenges are structural and deep-rooted.
The primary question remains: how can we reduce the risks to people, companies and governments in our ICT system when it is, by its nature, global, interconnected and therefore fiendishly complex to untangle and safeguard?
The global nature of technology is an inescapable fact. Up to 70 per cent of the components in Huawei’s technology portfolio do not come from Huawei itself but from a global supply chain, with US companies being the biggest provider of components at 32 per cent of the total. Most other big technology companies have similarly complex supply chains. That means we will all need to consider the challenges beyond our own companies if we are to strengthen the security of our networks and products.