Cybersecurity in the modern digital world is not only a technological challenge but is also a cultural, political, legal, ethical, and business issue. Technological hazards such as data breaches, ransomware attacks, or surveillance malware do not occur in a vacuum. Their implications trickle through society, determining how governments formulate policy, how companies manage risk and reputation, how laws are created and enforced, how ethical decisions are made by companies and government, and how cultures perceive privacy and security.


For example, a breach of data privacy would trigger legal proceedings in the European Union under GDPR, trigger political debate over regulation and sovereignty, raise ethical issues over the rights of consumers, and cause reputational as well as financial damage to a business. Concurrently, cultural attitudes to personal data would impact individuals and organizations elsewhere in the world in response to the same event.


Effective cybersecurity products will thus have to go beyond code and firewalls—they must cover a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates social behavior, compliance, international geopolitics, business strategy, and ethical responsibility.