Page 50 - Cyber Defense eMagazine for September 2020

P. 50

Not digital immigrants, but digital citizens

Since the end of the XX century we started using computers and the Internet as a tool for extracting
useful and necessary information, mastering it (transmitting or receiving), as access to both mastered
knowledge and any information about the plans set by humanity. These achievements made it possible
to create systems with a complex technical structure that allowed processing huge amounts of
information compared to previous years. As a result, method of production, lifestyle, and value systems
were changed.

Digital sphere was characterised by the creation and improvement of hyper communications, which
included numerous mobile operators, connection speed technologies, as well as communication
programs that have become prerequisites for the development of the Internet industry and cloud
technologies, the emergence of new forms of information representation, i.e. the appearance of a
contrasting border between the phases of social strata. Due to the rapid development of information
technologies, humanity was taking great steps to improve the information world, making the distances
between countries (people) minimal, simplifying people's lives through various electronic devices. It was
Information Revolution where people migrated to new, digital, reality.

However, we no longer use cyber domain as a tool. Today we use cyber sphere as a space where people
live, work, and communicate with one another. Bitcoin, transnational transactions, Forex trading all take
place in cyberspace. From a socio-cultural standpoint, we also observe a sizeable presence of online
volunteering, distance internships, or online courses. Mass media has migrated from traditional channels
to online platforms like YouTube and Twitch. Sitting in the comfort of one’s home, we can even travel the
world via a virtual tour of Versailles or visit ancient Chinese temples. Conversely, digital disruption of an
electric station is easier and cheaper than physically destroying infrastructure. Moreover, virtual
operations can be executed in all areas of military warfare: in the air, on land, on the sea, and even in
space (Nus.edu.sg, 2020).

In addition to it, post-digital epoch is characterised by increasing technology personalization, mobile apps,
artificial intelligence, augmented reality and quantum computing, increasing the role of respected and
high quality research centers, and the emergence of a new generation of more trained workforce that is
constantly expanding its capabilities due to technology. The number of Internet users in the world has
grown to 4.54 billion (We Are Social, n.d.), where mobile phones now account for more than half of the
time we spend online — 50.1%. Recent data from GlobalWebIndex shows that we use apps in almost all
areas of our lives — when we talk to friends and family, lie on the couch, manage finances, exercise, or
build romantic relationships. Moreover, average person spends more than 8 hours in cyberspace today,
1/3 of a day (GlobalWebIndex, 2019).

As a result, the importance of technologies in our lives has reached new heights, and people are spending
more and more time on the cyberspace. Devices and their applications are no longer just an auxiliary
work tool, but a part of the citizens' lifestyle. We live in cyber domain as well as in real physical world.
We have become citizens of virtual world.

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