‘Cybersecurity’ and ‘Development’

The links between cybersecurity and international development are crucially important, especially for the world’s poorest and most marginalized countries and people. Yet, they have rarely been explored in detail, and all too often international initiatives designed to support development have paid insufficient attention to cybersecurity issues. In large part, this is because the communities of expertise in the two fields are often distinct and separate, speak different languages, have different interests, and are physically located in different organizations and places. Cybersecurity tends to be the domain of computer scientists, security agencies, telecommunication ministries, the private sector, and foreign policy organizations, whereas international development is largely the field of social scientists, development specialists, aid ministries, civil society, and humanitarian organizations. This separation is true of most bilateral and multilateral donors, and, as a result technology-supported aid initiatives frequently ignore fundamentally important issues around digital security. This chapter provides an overview of the intersections between the two, why they are important, and what can be done to improve integration between them in the interests of reducing inequalities and poverty.