CONTENTS

ADVERTORIAL
ADVERTORIAL
September / October 2016 | www.politicsfirst.org.uk
The Digital Transformation of Public
Services will fail unless Cyber Security
is at its core
JC Gaillard
Managing Director
Corix Partners
Corix Partners is a Boutique
Management Consultancy
Firm focused on assisting
CIOs and other C-level
executives in resolving Cyber
Security Strategy, Organisation
& Governance challenges.
In July 2015, Corix Partners co-sponsored an Open Forum event
in London around the theme “Digital Public Services: Rethinking,
reshaping and rewiring services”. For us, having worked all of our
lives for and within the private sector, it was a discovery exercise –
aimed at getting an understanding of some of the dynamics within the
public sector, essentially around our niche consulting area which is
focused on Cyber Security Strategy, Organisation & Governance.
From our perspective, any definition of “digital public service” was always going
to have the Internet as its engine – together with the vast proportion of citizens
connected to it through a growing variety of devices. The Internet cannot be seen
as a neutral media. It is a hostile environment where countless virulent threats
are active – and there can be no digital public service of any kind without a
strong cyber security. So we were expecting cyber security to have a degree of
prominence in the debates.
The fact that cyber security was hardly mentioned at all by any of the speakers
on the day was a very concerning factor for us and it seems to conflict heavily
with the message central government is driving. It left us asking ourselves where
cyber security genuinely fits in the agenda and in the mindsets of public sector IT
leaders.
Since then, we have observed similar attitudes very often, online, on social media
and elsewhere.
For example, the 2015 SOCITM annual conference, the leading public sector ICT
event in the UK, did not have any session dedicated directly to cyber security
across its 2 days, and its 2016 edition is apparently planning to dedicate only
15 minutes to the topic (pending confirmation of the content of some keynote
speeches and breakout sessions).
This is very hard to reconcile with the message coming from government leaders:
Because of the sensitivity of what it does and its level of threats exposure, the
public sector must lead the way at all levels on cyber security.
Cyber security cannot be taken for granted. It should not be seen as a low level
technical problem, or another layer of technical “nuts and bolts” required to tick
boxes mandated from above. It cannot be treated like something of extreme
complexity that has to be left to the intelligence community, or seen a “necessary
evil” that is at odds with functionality.
Cyber security must be at the heart of the public sector IT agenda and must be
seen as a necessary barrier against real and active threats. It needs to be actively
implemented at people, process and technology levels. It needs to be embedded
in the mindset of all parts of the public sector for digitalisation to work.
Otherwise, cyber threats can and will derail the digital agenda. The citizens’ trust in
digital public services would be badly damaged by the type of aggressive media
coverage that surrounded the TalkTalk data breach in October 2015, and this may
be irrecoverable.
Change in that space is very highly vulnerable to ambiguity: It starts with a clear
vision coming from the top that must be relayed without fail at all levels. All actors
in the public sector digital transformation sphere must place cyber security at
the heart of each and every public communication they make. Those who think
it might “scare people” are just in denial about the reality of the threats and the
impact they can have. It is only at this price that the digital transformation will be
successful at the pace the Government is marking.
CONSULTING COPERNICUS
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance polymath who argued
against the ancient vision of the earth as centre of the universe,
and professed instead that earth and other planets orbit the sun.
Copernicus’ work shifted the human gaze outwards toward distant
stars and sparked a paradigm shift that transformed Europe.
Centuries later, the Copernicus earth observation programme is a
constellation of satellites and a host of sensors anchored to ships,
moored to buoys and borne aloft on balloons. A net of Copernican
eyes now wreathes the earth, collecting data on the earth’s climate
and atmosphere. Copernicus provides governments, industry, and
agencies with free access to climate data. The European Union
expects its open data strategy to deliver a €40 billion annual boost
to the European economy 1 , and Copernicus contributes its wealth
of data to this capital. By providing accurate, timely and open
data Copernicus aims to spark a sea change in the way decision
makers predict and influence the earth’s climate.
Copernicus provides data to users through a selection of services.
Examples include the Copernicus Climate Change Service
(C3S) and the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, both
managed by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather
Forecasts. C3S utilizes Copernican data and a century of
instrumental records to monitor and predict the earth’s changing
climate. C3S provides records of rising temperatures and rising
seas; of shifting rainfall, gnawing drought, and dwindling ice. C3S
is an authoritative source of climate information in Europe which
enhances national investments and complements national climate
services.
Silke Zollinger, Press and Events Manager
Copernicus Communication, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
silke.zollinger@ecmwf.int | Tel: +44 (0)118 9499 778
Web: atmosphere.copernicus.eu | climate.copernicus.eu ecmwf.int |copernicus.eu
Demonstrator projects called Sectoral Information Systems (SIS)
bring climate scientists, consultants, and policymakers together to
explore applications of open climate data in industry. The SIS provide
tailored climate information that helps decision makers prepare for,
respond, mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Consultants and agencies interface between the Sectoral Information
Systems and managers and policymakers. Consultants add value to
Copernicus’ data, transforming climate information into knowledge
that enables management of resources at local and national scales.
In turn, the SIS provide economic opportunities, nurture networks,
and share experience among consultancies.
Climate change and severe weather heed no national borders,
threatening the socioeconomic structure of Europe. Science,
industry and policy must collaborate to mitigate the emissions that
drive climate change and adapt society to changes that are already
inevitable. We must now choose between an unsustainable and
increasingly grim future and a revolution in resilience and green
growth. Copernicus, CAMS, C3S and the Sectoral Information
Systems support this essential sea change.
Where once Nicolaus Copernicus suggested humans look outwards
from the earth, the Copernicus earth observation programme now
turns the human gaze back onto our own planet. As Copernicus
theorized that the earth and other planets orbit the sun, humans
were earthbound. We now have eyes in space, and the planet is
entwined in a network of Copernican sensors. From space, from our
rising seas and from our voracious deserts, Copernicus seeks to
help us understand our changing climate.
1
“Digital Agenda: Turning government data into gold,” European Commission press release, 12th December 2011.
Copernicus, a European Union Programme for a new European Climate Economy.