Data, the buried treasure in the sea of ​​the Internet!

I remember the iconic cover of a respected American periodical stating that "data" had surpassed oil as the most valuable resource in the modern world! That was back in 2017, a Jurassic world compared to today, where Artificial Intelligence creates "facts" and society begins to question whether we've gone beyond ethical and moral boundaries.

As history records, everything that has been seen as valuable has awakened human greed. We've had salt, gold, coffee, … and it would be no different with the wealth of the digital world: data. A recent study conducted jointly by IBM and the Ponemon Institute analyzed 550 companies that reported data breach incidents in 17 different countries, concluding that the average cost of a single data breach in a corporation reaches US$ 4.35 million. The United States leads this list, with Brazil in 16th position, with an average cost per breach 7x lower than the American one.

It's necessary to take care of your organization's and your customers' data. This is the capital "G" of ESG in ICT!

Considering that the number of internet users has doubled in Brazil in 10 years, the preservation of data that travels and is stored in the cloud has taken a prominent place in technology companies, which are investing more and more in cybersecurity. I venture to say that, in up to 5 years, governance in the virtual world will reach a level as high as that currently given to organizations' financial statements. Certifications like ISO 27001 will become more frequent, and best practice guides will proliferate to demonstrate the application of data protection best practices.

Speaking of best practices, the news that the text of the proposal presented and negotiated by ANATEL on cybersecurity was approved at the annual session of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Council, in the second half of July, follows this line. Cybersecurity risks have already been addressed by the ITU, which, in 2015, launched the first Global Cybersecurity Index, an assessment that addresses the legal, technical, organizational, literacy, and cooperation aspects between member countries on the subject.

In a world where society is increasingly digitally exposed, by its own will, data is the new "treasure" and cybersecurity attacks the new "corsairs."

By Marcio Lino, originally published in Teletime News on August 2nd, 2023