Letter from the Guest Editor   By Dr. Cyril Onwubiko

Cybersecurity is a priority for everyone, e.g., consumers, enterprises and nation states. In fact, it should be considered an utmost priority for modern society. For example, cybersecurity is used to protect citizens’ data and privacy, and to identify and protect against false news and misinformation in social media networks and platform. It is applied in addressing sustainability concerns (Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)), and in promoting and guiding responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is the fabric for establishing National cybersecurity laws, data privacy directives and regulations, and through to protecting national security. Cybersecurity has become a fundamental building block in protecting citizens and modern society and influencing national interests.

These developments correlate with the increasing number of countries creating their own National cybersecurity strategies as seen with the UK Cybersecurity 2021, US National Cyber 2018, Finland Cybersecurity 2019, Australia Cybersecurity 2020. While regional national cybersecurity centres include the European National Information Security Agency (ENISA), ASEAN Cyber Capacity Programme, and ASEAN-Japan Cybersecurity Capacity Building Centre etc. The growing national and regional data privacy regulatory derivatives, for instance, the European GDPR, national cybersecurity laws (e.g., Chinese Cyber Security Law) in part, to protect themselves, their intellectual property from cyber espionage and foreign State interference in the rule of law and governance. In the other part, to foster a secure and safe cyberspace to conduct businesses and to attract human capital, talent pipeline and bolstering innovation and economic potential and opportunities.

Cybersecurity covers a broad range of domains, such as, legal & cyber laws, data privacy, risk management, digital forensics, architecture and engineering, systems development, human factors, psychology, linguistics and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics), much beyond the scope of a single magazine issue. Hence, the articles featured in this issue are a demonstration of the multidimensional nature of cybersecurity.

Cyril Onwubiko is a Senior Director, Enterprise Security at Pearson, based in London, UK. He is a Board of Governor (BoG) & Distinguished Speaker (DVP) of IEEE Computer Society; and a Member of the European Public Policy Committee (EPPC) Working Group on ICT. Cyril is a recipient of IEEE-CS Distinguished Contributor Award. You can reach him at https://www.c-mric.com/cyril

Call for Articles – Notes

Dear Friends,

I am the Guest Editor of the IEEE-HKN THE BRIDGE May 2023 Issue focusing on Cybersecurity.

THE BRIDGE is the second most read/accessed publication after IEEE Spectrum on the IEEE App. My role as Guest Editor will be to help identify and coordinate authors in generating three featured articles on Cybersecurity.  My intention for the May 2023 Issue is to present Cybersecurity as a multidimensional discipline as described in my Guest Editor letter for the Issue (see above).  I would implore you to review/browse through some of the past issues (we have just published this month’s Issue – Engineering Space Exploration) of the magazine at https://hkn.ieee.org/news-and-announcements/the-bridge.

Points to note for preparing/submitting your article:

1. What’s the central theme of the May 2023 Issue?  The working general theme of the May 2023 issue is Cybersecurity.
2. What are the criteria for selecting authors?  There are no formal criteria for selecting authors (left up to the Guest Editor).  I would expect that the articles would need to be original and have not been published elsewhere.
3. What is the page length? There is no strict page length, but it’s ideal to structure your content to no more than 5 pages of A4 in IEEE double column format.
4. Do I need to pay to publish my article? No. it’s free publication
5. Is the Issue going to focus on a specific domain of Cybersecurity, e.g., Cryptography, Identity & Access, Security Monitoring?  No. That’s left up to the Guest Editor, that’s me 😊.  As covered in my Guest Editor letter, I want to present Cybersecurity as a multidimensional discipline, so I’ll be selecting articles from various domain, or articles that showcase the multidimensional nature of Cybersecurity applications, in addition, I would favour articles covering emerging topics/trends.  A thing to note is the magazine’s audience ranges from HKN student/professional/alumni members to those within IEEE to readers in general.  Also, it’s the second most read/accessed publication after IEEE Spectrum on the IEEE App.

If you are interested in submitting an article, please could you email me your working draft title/abstract by 18th November 2022.

Best regards,

Cyril