By Erick O. Otieno, CB4ICTD Project
Information security and cybersecurity have been used synonymously in the context of information systems security management. It is, however, very common to hear the word cybersecurity being floated in almost every discussion in the information systems world. For this blog, we shall consider cybersecurity and information security to mean the same thing.
As such, we define cybersecurity to be the risks, real or perceived, emerging from the development, deployment, and consumption of ICT assets in any generic setup.
Cybersecurity has become the next frontier for information systems experts to worry about. With the advent of the internet of things, artificial intelligence, and their reliance on Big data, security related to these three concepts has proven to be a nightmare for both policymakers and all other stakeholders. The quest to keep everyone safe while ensure the full benefits of being connected to the entire world has generated a lot of conversations. Some entities such as the European Union have found it wise to come up with privacy and responsible usage safeguards such as the GDPR[1].
The link between AI and Cybersecurity has never been so clear as it is in the current dispensation of the digital age. With the advent of AI being launched in virtually all aspects of our lives, the quest to make these deployments as safe as possible has gained ground. AI relies heavily on information systems and the underlying data to drive it. Therefore, Big data comes into the picture. Harvesting this data while maintaining the tenets of user rights and privacy becomes an important demand from everyone involved. This is where we submit that cybersecurity becomes an important area to us within the context of AI.
While everybody has focused on the more obvious areas of cybersecurity such as threats to global and national security, business continuity, household and individual privacy, very few have looked into one critical part that we believe will dictate a successful cybersecurity strategy. This critical part is the generation that will in foreseeable future, play a key role in shaping what we will know as cybersecurity mitigation.
Generation X and Generation ALPHA have been studied at great length in terms of character and behavior in a bid to understand them and help in building a futuristic ready market for business enterprises. Phycologists and marketing enthusiasts have gone to great lengths to explore the two generations to better profile them in the most effective potential clientele[2],[3], [4], [5]. This has revealed a generation with ready access to technology in this digital age with Generation ALPHA seamlessly transitioning to the digital age from a very tender age. The question therefore that cybersecurity experts need to ask themselves is what this phenomenon portends to the future of cybersecurity. It is from this premise that we analyze possible pathways for the future of cybersecurity research within the context of both good and bad, and provide an overview of what we can think of in terms of strategic investment in both generations.
Artifical Inteligence front
Interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) has grown in all sectors both nationally and globally. From business to health, communication to social ventures, even on national to global defense, AI has found its way and is making great strides. Africa is not left on the sidewalk as well. With the growth of access to the internet in Africa[6],[7], the need to be at the same level as other continents have also grown. Therefore, the development, deployment, and consumption of AI has become more of a necessity than a need. With this in mind, there also increased calls to start investing on what has minimally been covered in the form of responsible AI. Responsible AI has minimally been focused on as opposed to focusing on research dwelling on how to make AI more efficient and respond to the market-oriented audience. It is our submission that the generations that can either be impacted more by AI or help shape AI in the future are Generation Z and Generation ALPHA. We, therefore, highlight a few areas that can shape research in the area of AI within the context of Generation Z and Generation ALPHA.
AI impact on Generation Z and Generation ALPHA
Understanding the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the future generation can be best gauged by understanding the effect on the current Generation Z and Generation ALPHA. This is mainly because of the dynamic characteristics that both generations exhibit. This area of research can look into possible research pathway on how AI has or will impact Generation Z and Generation ALPHA, and how both generations will shape AI to respond to societal and economic as well as health-related AI development, deployment, and consumption. The general approach in this pathway can lead us to better understand better the latent and peripheral aspects of AI which would also include looking into cultural components of AI vis a viz Generation Z and Generation ALPHA.
AI Governance
Responsible Artificial Intelligence is not limited to the development and deployment of AI, but also how future generations are molded to support the efforts towards ensuring responsible consumption. This may be possible if there is good data on how AI is consumed by Generation Z and Generation ALPHA cohorts and the impact they have on their day to day interaction with society. These can shed light on very important variables to be considered with the governing bodies to formulate sustainable policies to govern the consumption of AI. The research area may therefore discuss possible research pathways that address governance and how AI stakeholders can take advantage of Generation Z and Generation ALPHA. This would be crucial to shaping the governance of responsible AI to foster safer AI development, deployment, and consumption.
Cybersecurity front
It would be fair to say that cybersecurity will remain a critical area of concern in many generations to come. This is predicated on the continuous growth of internet access expounded by the extensive unfettered access by persons of all ages including many younger age members of our society. Therefore, we can all agree that Generation Z and Generation ALPHA thus become a crucial centerpiece to future research on cybersecurity.
That being said, Generation Z and Generation ALPHA hold a key position to shape how cybersecurity strategies will be put in place today if we want to have a secure cyberspace tomorrow and in the far future. As such, we highlight possible entry points for cybersecurity or information security researchers to consider as part of this effort.
Cybersecurity Governance
How we govern information security to ensure safe cyberspace is dependent on many factors. However, we submit that the key cornerstone to enable robust cyberspace governance is Generation Z and Generation ALPHA. These are the two groups that are least understood in terms of their impact on the strategies for cybersecurity, yet they are the most informed today on cyber content due to the ready access. By investing in research that delves deeper into their world, we submit that this will open other knowledge points for better and effective cybersecurity governance. Policymakers will be in a better position to be informed on what aspects to factor in for the development and deployment of policies based on evidence. Policy implementors would also understand how best to tackle aspects of management and compliance because of the deep understanding of the audience. This would bring in the missing 360 degrees component of cybersecurity strategic development.
Cybersecurity Culture
This is another pathway that would be very critical to the future success of making cyberspace safe for all in Africa. Researchers have the opportunity to understand how Generation Z and generation ALPHA can play a role in shaping the future of Cybersecurity or Information Security culture and compliance culture. We submit that by investing in this kind of research, we will generate the much-needed knowledge that buttresses the already established efforts to have responsible AI, and also increase the safe environment for productive Internet of Things deployments and consumptions. This will also put Generation Z and Generation ALPHA in a critical position to shape the mindset of future generations to come.
Role of African Center for Technology Studies (ACTS)
African Center for Technology Studies (ACTS) understands what needs to be done because of its experience in policy research and advisory role in a Pan African context. With the critical roles already played in the past through the STEM and STI thematic areas in all capacities including but not limited to capacity development, policy research, policy advisories among others, we believe that ACTS should also play a key role in developing research streams in these areas. We must admit that these are not exhaustive pathways of research in the area of AI and Cybersecurity, but we consider them the gateway to other equally robust research topics to be considered. This will not only help build the much-needed knowledge base to advise African entities on Cybersecurity and AI topical issues but also build its clout as an institution to go to in these topical issues both within Africa and globally.
References
[1] General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR)
