How Technology Has Transformed the Concept of Security - Part 3

Remember, I finished the second part by saying that especially biochemical Security is likely to become more important for states than it used to be. Furthermore, COVID-19's effects on cybersecurity can be mentioned in addition to its effects on biochemical Security. Yuval Noah Harari says, "If we are not careful, the epidemic might nevertheless mark an important watershed in the history of surveillance. Not only because it might normalize the deployment of mass surveillance tools in countries that have so far rejected them, but even more so because it signifies a dramatic transition from "over the skin" to "under the skin" surveillance." in one of his essays.

States have developed mobile applications that use people's personal information such as ID numbers or body temperatures to produce and share data about the pandemic. This pandemic is becoming an inseparable part of our lives day by day, yet according to some, the knowledge we have about this virus is still not sufficient. However, at the very beginning of this period, people were in such a panic that they would rush to find a solution without thinking of the consequences. Therefore, they started to share their information with governments or with the companies behind the applications in a very short time without knowing if the technology is secure or if this personal data could be used against them in the future.

There are other examples of the importance of cybersecurity in the international arena. For instance, one of them is known as The WikiLeaks Case. WikiLeaks is a website that anonymously publishes private documents of states or other organizations. It has released nearly three hundred thousand diplomatic documents that belong to the US State Department to the world's media in November 2010. So we can say that the lack of cybersecurity can cause a wide range of damage, as in the case of WikiLeaks. According to various people, these leaks damaged both the US's National Security and the individuals that were related to the documents.

Yet, despite its importance, the gap of high-skilled people in this area is widening due to many reasons. States, rather than individuals, need to enhance their focus on this topic in the future, where the technology will be even more developed. Otherwise, the results will be a further lack of cybersecurity for the governments. This also can be understood from an article from Forbes that emphasizes the role of society in this matter by saying, "Security must permeate everything we do in the digital realm. It's not the responsibility of the few but rather the responsibility of the entire connected society."

Thus, we can say that previously it was possible to simply define the concept of Security as the state of being free from danger or threat. However, in the new understanding of Security, which comes with the new digital world, we are giving up our rights of freedom to be safe. So the definition of Security has broadened to include both military and non-military aspects. And it seems likely to continue to evolve and get more complex as technology does so.

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For Harari's essay click here, and for Forbes article click here.