Cybersecurity in the age of digital identity
May 3, 2021 – 88th Congress of Acfas | Colloquium 654
Only online | see the program…
This colloquium will be held as part of the 88th Acfas Congress, which will take place in Sherbrooke (QC) from May 3 to 7, 2021. Anyone interested in attending must register for the Acfas Congress. This event will be of interest to stakeholders from the private and public sectors as well as members of the academic community who are interested in cybersecurity issues and the security of citizens’ private data.
The Acfas annual conference is the largest multidisciplinary gathering of knowledge and research in the French-speaking world.
Why the interest in the security of digital citizenship?
The issue of personal data has attracted a lot of attention in recent years, and this, all over the world. Personal data leaks have had an awareness-raising effect on populations. The adoption by the European Union of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which combines data valorisation, data protection reinforcement and extraterritorial effects, is a further demonstration of the importance of the personal data issue. The threats to the integrity of data illustrated by the various leaks has also highlighted the risks regarding their protection and circulation. This cybersecurity issue, personal data being essentially digital and online nowadays, has led the federal government to found the Digital Identification and Authentication Council of Canada, known as DIACC, to develop a Canadian framework for digital identification and authentication. The Government of Quebec has begun the process of updating its legislative framework by drafting Bill 64, an act to modernize legislative provisions regarding the protection of personal information, which is inspired by the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Its Ministry of Digital Transformation has begun work to provide each Quebecer with a digital identity. These initiatives raise many questions from different academic disciplines including governance (political science), legislation (legal sciences), leadership (management) and technology (computer science and engineering). In order to generate sustainable, coherent and facilitating frameworks for the protection of personal data, all of these disciplines must be brought together around the notion of digital identity.
Why organize this conference?
In terms of cybersecurity as well as digital identity, Quebec and Canada are lagging behind when it comes to the protection of personal data. Thoughts on this subject are slow to materialize in government programs or legislation. The relevance of this conference lies in the evaluation of recent initiatives in Canada in light of a comparison with more advanced countries such as Estonia. Based on an international and interprovincial Canadian comparison, it will be possible to highlight best practices in the area of personal data protection, to participate in the advancement of knowledge on digital identity and to intellectually equip the various levels of government in this regard. In this respect, researchers from different disciplines must collaborate more closely in order to have a greater leverage effect on society, by generating new knowledge that will allow to respond to current and future cybersecurity and digital identity issues. This conference, by its interdisciplinary dimension, is intended to be the missing spark in the francophone ecosystem in order to foster the emergence of innovative ideas by better understanding the research avenues by bringing together the practice community with academic research.
To register for the conference: https://www.acfas.ca/evenements/congres/inscription
For more information:
Pierre-Martin Tardif, Professor, Department of Information Systems and Quantitative Management Methods, School of Management, Université de Sherbrooke
Summer School in Cybersecurity
May 10 – 14, 2021 | Online only
Presentation of the Summer School
This online credit course will bring together cybersecurity experts from a variety of disciplines (science, law, management, applied policy) and will introduce participants to the social impacts, legal requirements, and cyber espionage issues associated with cybersecurity. Key principles of governance, anomaly management and the use of cybersecurity dashboards will also be targeted. Finally, participants in this summer school will learn techniques to improve cybersecurity behaviors, including identity and privacy risk management.