By 2025, the worldwide cost of cyberattacks may triple compared to 2015

In an increasingly digital world, secure internet infrastructures are both a challenge and an obligation. As the number of devices sharing data grows thanks to the rise and democratization of the Internet of Things (IoT), the number of threats that users face is also on the increase. Estimates suggest that if the current rate of growth continues, the value of the damage caused by cyberattacks will amount to around $10.5 trillion a year by 2025, compared with $3 trillion in 2015, an increase of more than 200%.

The development of cybersecurity measures to mitigate and reduce these risks must be sustainable. Any commitment to sustainability must be aimed at making the internet environmentally responsible, ensuring equitable access, fostering digital inclusion and promoting social responsibility.

Those are the assumptions that led researchers at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) to coordinate the Bringing Sustainable Cybersecurity to the Internet of Things (SECURING) project, which also involves the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Universitat Rovira i Virgili.

The project seeks to contribute to sustainable development of the internet by providing cybersecurity and privacy technologies that efficiently protect the infrastructures of the Internet of Things. This will provide protection for a significant part of economies, while at the same time fostering sustainability from the social and environmental point of view.