“Trapped in a framework that promotes distrust.”
The world is becoming increasingly digital, and we’re powerless to stop it. We shop online, we pay our bills on our smartphone or computer, and our medical records and personal data is stored digitally. But do we trust that the information stored is accurate? Can we be sure our digital transactions won’t be compromised? Do we believe that our personal information is safe and secure? Are the things we see and read even real? How do we know? These questions and concerns have given rise to a concept known as Digital Trust. But what does it mean?
Digital Trust can be defined as the process to establish and manage the myriad of digital interactions and relationships between governments, businesses, individuals and things. Digital Trust is not only about trusting the digital transactions themselves, but also about trusting the digital landscape in which they function and operate. Trusting digital content used to make decisions, as well as trusting that technology interactions will have a safe, predictable outcome irrespective of the application or purpose, is all part of Digital Trust.
After decades of using information technology, we have never stopped to question the fundamental principles of the IT Framework. The IT industry did not fix the IT Framework but instead dealt with the challenges such as security, privacy, poor data quality and integrity, multiple unauthenticated identities and others by building tools, workarounds and fixes — rather than questioning the core principals and repairing the foundation. After decades of rapid technology development and evolution, the IT Industry is trapped in a framework that promotes Digital Distrust.