Should digital sense be priority in Sri Lanka’s digital transformation journey?

A well-coordinated campaign will be necessary, which addresses digital literacy education from schools to the workforce, including the generation that is new to digital technologies, and supported by public awareness campaigns. While providing direction and leadership, this is not something that the Government needs to do or can do by itself. The efforts have to be supported by the private sector as well

Every day, we wake up to a news item circulating on national and social media relating to an online fraud, scam, or an incident violating personal digital space. These significant events cause nothing but disconcert and loss of confidence in the digital economy, probably setting us back by a couple of years in our digital journey. The more such incidents are experienced and brought to light, the more negativity that will build up, which will affect the nation's digital transformation ambitions. So why do these online frauds, scams, and other events of concern happen almost daily? The answer could be that we lack digital sense when going about our day-to-day lives, ignoring basic principles of digital safety. 

Precautions in the digital world

There is, in practical terms, very little difference between the precautions we take in the physical world and those we should take in the digital world. The principles are the same—only the medium has changed. Take, for example, your house key. You wouldn’t leave it under the doormat or hanging on the front door, because that would make it easy for anyone to walk in and access your valuables. You instinctively keep it secure, separate, and within your control. The digital equivalent of that key is your password or PIN. Yet, many people treat it very differently. It’s common to see passwords written on sticky notes near computers, saved in plain text on phones, or shared casually with others. In effect, this is no different from leaving your house key in plain sight. Would you disclose to anyone who calls or requests where you keep your door key? Absolutely not! The same applies to something like an ATM card. The card is only one layer of access—the PIN is the actual key. Keeping both together, such as writing the PIN on the card or storing it in your wallet, is equivalent to locking your valuables and then leaving the key right next to the lock. People often do this out of convenience—too many passwords, fear of forgetting, or simply habit. The same applies to an OTP, which is equivalent to your door key; you wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) disclose it to anyone. While understandable, it weakens the very protection these systems are designed to provide.

Digital sense

This is where the important concept of digital sense comes in. Digital sense is a person’s ability to understand and navigate the digital environment or digital landscape while making good, sensible decisions when interacting with the myriad of digital platforms, such as web and app-based digital services. Key amongst the concepts of digital sense is digital awareness. Digital awareness relates to understanding how online platforms, apps, and systems work, including social media, banking, online ordering, personal data tracking, and algorithms operating at the back end of these apps and platforms. Critical online thinking is another aspect of digital sense. This refers to the ability to judge and discern whether information presented is reliable, whether it has come from a reliable source, the capacity to spot misinformation and/or false information, and thereby the ability to avoid scams.  

Data and the sense of privacy, your own as well as others, is all about being cautious about what you share, with whom you share, understanding permissions and permission parameters, and your unwritten obligation, as an individual, to protect personal information is also an important component of digital sense. The understanding that a break in the chain could result in exposure, which can be exploited by unscrupulous people to cause harm. Practical tech skills to operate mobile phones and devices, apps (e.g, downloading an app from the correct location), and cloud services are important to protect oneself and one’s assets. 

Building trust

Organisations, too, have a significant role to play in building trust in their digital channels, not only to safeguard their customers from fraudulent activity, but also their own assets and reputation. As such, implementing and enforcing good password practices, both internally and externally, and implementing secure protocols such as MFA, providing training and creating awareness on frauds, scams, and how to detect and avoid them are some areas that can be addressed from an institutional level, which could help in enhancing trust in digital systems and achieving the much-needed transformation objectives.         

This digital capacity, understanding, and practical sense seem to be lacking amongst the majority, as seen in the daily headlines we see. Along with digital sense, we need to build capacity and instil a sense of accountability and responsibility as a priority to safeguard our digital transformation journey. Eroding confidence in digital systems would result in low trust, jeopardising our journey. We need to go digital to reap the many benefits it offers, but we need to do it right by building digital sense in our people as a priority. 

Digital transformation is not merely the adoption and deployment of digital technology. It necessarily has to be preceded by a transformation of general digital behaviour and attitudes, and instilling digital sense.

Changing behaviour and attitudes, and instilling a digital sense in a population, is not something that is achieved overnight. A well-coordinated campaign will be necessary, which addresses digital literacy education from schools to the workforce, including the generation that is new to digital technologies, and supported by public awareness campaigns. While providing direction and leadership, this is not something that the Government needs to do or can do by itself. The efforts have to be supported by the private sector as well.

(The author is a former CEO of a leading software and technology company. He could be reached via email at  [email protected])