Strengthening of End-to-End Cybersecurity
More collective and adaptive approaches are needed to protect increasingly complex and interconnected digital ecosystems.
Total potential economic value creation
US$3.13 trillion
What does this trend encompass?
The growing complexity and interconnectedness of digital ecosystems — spanning cloud platforms, AI tools, software supply chains, and connected ambient devices — has widened the attack surface across modern digital ecosystems. As a result, traditional security approaches are rendered inadequate and trust becomes harder to maintain. This requires a shift from static defense mechanisms to resilient, adaptive digital infrastructure that can autonomously detect, respond to, and recover from sophisticated threats without human intervention. The need for new approaches that protect entire digital ecosystems raises questions about extending cyber resilience and data protection to smaller, more vulnerable organizations throughout complex supply chains. A collective and shared approach to cyber defense is essential to mitigate systemic cybersecurity risks and strengthen a more resilient, secure, and trusted digital economy.
Why is it important?
In today’s hyper-connected digital economy, a single vulnerable organization or firm in the supply chain can expose the entire digital system to failure. Smaller organizations often have less resources to keep pace with growing AI-powered threats such as advanced phishing campaigns, deepfake-enabled fraud, and adaptive malware. This creates points of vulnerability that can affect trust and security throughout the broader digital ecosystem. Rising tensions around digital interdependence and critical infrastructure have further complicated cybersecurity strategies across public and private sectors. Strengthening end-to-end cybersecurity is essential not only to protect data and operations, but also to sustain trust, resilience, and economic stability across the global digital ecosystem.
Enabling conditions and countries’ readiness
According to DET survey respondents, the growth of Strengthening of End-to-End Cybersecurity depends on:
Digital Infrastructure: adaptive identity management and access infrastructure that can autonomously detect, respond to, and recover from attacks is critical for building trust in cybersecurity capabilities at the national level, which is particularly important for citizens and SMEs.
Digital Policy and Governance: cross-sectoral regulations that set minimum security requirements and incident reporting, supported by public administration overseeing compliance and providing targeted support to SMEs, create the foundation for effective end-to-end cybersecurity.
Digital Innovation: a collaborative R&D ecosystem with shared threat knowledge, interoperable tools, and safe testing environments enables earlier detection and faster responses to cyber threats.
Economic, social, and environmental impact
This trend ranks first in positive economic (5.70) and social (5.54) impacts, through reducing risk exposure and enhancing trust and resilience, with lower environmental impact (4.22). Government and private sector respondents hold similar views. Latin America ranks highest for both economic and social impacts.
Private sector
Treat cybersecurity as a shared responsibility by partnering across supply chains
to establish mutual security standards, real-time threat intelligence sharing, and coordinated incident response protocols.
Co-develop and implement baseline controls, supply chain transparency practices, and zero-trust architectures
with suppliers, service providers, and insurers while jointly funding pooled security utilities for SMEs covering managed detection and response.
Extend security capabilities downstream to vulnerable partners
through subsidized tools, training, and managed services that raise the collective defense posture across the entire value network.
Run continuous security testing exercises and coordinated response drills
with partners, publishing measurable resilience metrics including time-to-detect, time-to-recover, and time-to-patch.
Public sector
Stand up comprehensive cyber resilience frameworks
that blend policy, technical standards, and shared services, co-developing interoperable rules for digital identity, incident reporting, and supply chain transparency with industry and standards bodies.
Mandate minimum security controls for critical vendors
while offering subsidized shared security services – managed threat detection, identity verification, and incident response – as public utilities accessible to SMEs and critical sectors.
Establish digital governance, regulatory sandboxes and joint testbeds
for emerging security technologies including zero-trust models, next-generation encryption, and automated response systems, while aligning procurement requirements to these baselines to signal market demand.
Build regional security operations centers
that pool threat intelligence and coordinate responses across jurisdictions, treating cyber defense as critical public infrastructure.
Promote the adherence to international cybersecurity frameworks
including participation in the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime process, a universal framework for preventing, investigating and prosecuting cyber offences globally.
IGOs, IOs, and others
Strengthen global cooperation in preventing, investigating, and prosecuting cyber offences
by, for example, supporting the implementation and review process of the UN Convention against Cybercrime.
Deploy practical, field-tested security toolkits tailored for resource-constrained environments
moving beyond policy frameworks to operational implementation that organizations can adopt immediately.
Establish regional cyber resilience hubs
that provide hands-on training, threat simulation exercises, and peer-to-peer learning networks for both public and private sector defenders across all maturity levels.
Advocate for cross-country cybersecurity resilience
through coordinated regional frameworks such as the European Union’s Network and Information Security (NIS2) Directive.
Read the Digital Economy Trends 2026 report
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