Vanguard Magazine

Basic cyber hygiene and diligence in the areas of access management, network-segmentation, anti-malware controls, monitoring, and most importantly, employee awareness and education will go a long way in dealing with such crises. CoVid-19 www.vanguardcanada.com APRIL/MAY 2020 25 reality demands governments, companies, and the military to break down their insti- tutional and technical barriers. Data silos and systems that don't talk to each other means that potentially useful data is inac- cessible. The more connected an organiza- tion, the more efficient and effective it can be post-disaster in its response, resilience, recovery, and new reality phases. The concept of a connected enterprise, albeit developed by KPMG Global for com- mercial applications, is directly applicable in the public sector and defence agencies. KPMG identified eight core capabilities in which an organization needs to invest in order to compete, grow, and effectively de- liver on its stated vision, mandate, or goals. At its core, it's about harnessing the power of digital technology. This framework is essential to assist deci- sion-makers in crafting and implementing clear plans for post-disaster response and recovery, including mobilizing people and resources. In the coming year, organizations will need to aggressively re-examine their busi- ness models and continuity plans, identify opportunities for right-sizing, identify sup- ply chain risks and prioritize investments. In the military, data scientists are already working to optimize supply chain manage- ment, use data patterns to predict an en- emy's movement, and project the number of new recruits or determine the optimal air evacuation route for a disaster-prone region. Disaster response is an area where digital technology is playing an increasingly im- portant role. Big data and machine learning are used to analyze and predict catastrophic events and mobilize emergency response teams. Using enormous amounts of data, re- searchers are applying artificial intelligence (AI) to find new and useful patterns to ac- curately predict earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and volcanic eruptions to save lives and reduce property damage. This kind of data enables governments to prepare and deploy the military to reach more people, sooner, more cost-efficient- ly, and save more lives. This is even more important during a pandemic when emer- gency response teams deployed to com- munities hit by natural disasters or wild- fires could face the risk of infection. These same technologies are helping in the coronavirus fight speeding up the search for new drugs, mapping the spread of the virus, and predicting the effective- ness of different actions to slow its spread. BlueDot, a Canadian technology start- up founded by a Toronto physician, was among the first in the world to identify the emerging risk from COVID-19 in Hubei province. The firm uses AI and natural- language processing to scan over 100,000 official and mass media sources 24/7 from around the world to detect outbreaks of diseases. Using machine learning, Southampton University's WorldPop team in the U.K. uses peer-reviewed spatial statistical meth- ods to support development, disaster re- sponse, and health applications, including epidemic modelling. To eliminate malaria in Zanzibar, the team worked with the World Health Organization and UK mo- bile operator Vodafone in 2007 to map how populations move by compiling ano- nymized sets of location data from mobile phones in areas where cases of the disease had been recorded. Despite privacy, civil liberty, and surveil- lance concerns, some countries, such as South Korea, China, and Israel, are now ac- tively tracing coronavirus patients and their contacts by geolocating their cellphones. Technology is here to enable us. But that doesn't mean we let down our guard. As more systems and infrastructure are built to be smart and include Internet of Things connectivity, the more at risk they become, underscoring the need to in- vest in cybersecurity defences. Bad actors – cybercriminals to state- backed hackers engaged in espionage – are already making the most of coronavirus anxiety to lure people into revealing se- curity information, handing over financial or personal information, and downloading malicious software. Many organizations thought they had the tools necessary to allow employees to work from home seamlessly. But, for many, the sudden move to a remote workforce exposed vulnerabilities in cybersecurity. There was little time to grant remote ac- cess on the principle of least privilege, a fundamental concept of information se- curity in which users are granted only the bare minimum of permissions to perform their work. Basic cyber hygiene and diligence in the areas of access management, network-seg- mentation, anti-malware controls, moni- toring, and most importantly, employee awareness and education will go a long way in dealing with such crises. The reality is, countries, including Can- ada, will need to take a measured, gradual approach for restarting the economy to avoid another coronavirus outbreak that shuts us down all over again. Like in any crisis, lessons will be learned, silver linings will be found, and new opportunities will emerge. In this crisis, however, it's uncer- tain when the tide will turn – and that will require fundamental changes to time-hon- ored working cultures and norms in every facet of the economy. One thing is clear: we must all plan for the new reality, rather than return to normal. The more resilient a country is, the faster it can recover. Mike Stone is KPMG's Global Chair of Defense and National Security & Global Head of Technology. He is based in London, england.

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