The advent of the Internet has transformed societies, economies and ways of life such that millions of people have been lifted out of poverty. Today, more than 50 per cent of the world population has access to information and communications technologies, which is an important target of the World Summit on the Information Society. While there is more to be done, the adverse effect of cybercrime, such as losses in reputation and investment, has cast a wide shadow on the possibility of reaping the full potential of information and communications technologies, especially with the advent of the fourth industrial revolution. There is therefore a need for an investigation into cybersecurity as a tool for development in the fourth industrial revolution.
With billions of devices (systems, sensors and actuators) operating autonomously in the fourth industrial revolution and more than 25 billion devices currently connected, the pervasiveness of online risks is expected to rise geometrically in this fourth phase of the industrial revolution. This underscores the importance of establishing comprehensive security measures online to assure trust and confidence and to enhance continuous and sustainable development, as envisaged by world leaders in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, of the African Union (2015).
The pace of innovation and transformation in the fourth industrial revolution has the potential to solve diverse development issues in the areas of poverty alleviation, health-care delivery, improvement in literacy levels, and food security, among other things. Indeed, the possibility of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals may be real if cybersecurity concerns are holistically addressed. In other words, cybersecurity assurance is an imperative for digital transformation and for the advancement of the digital economy in Africa.
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