Bridging Language Gaps in Cybersecurity Governance

Communication is particularly important in today's cybersecurity, which remains an evolving area that should draw from different areas of expertise, but often does not. Ideally, policymaking should be integrated – drawing on ideas from different specialties such as security, legal and ethical issues, to name a few – each with its own specialized and technical terms and vocabulary. However, the knowledge of all specialties must be combined to create a coherent cybersecurity policy, which is increasingly important in the modern world and, therefore, must be universal. The combined effects of the diversity of disciplines, the universality of fields and the borderless nature of cyber threats point to the need for greater coherence and effectiveness of communication. Practitioners around the world would benefit from better linking technical knowledge with effective policy solutions. A translation-focused approach to bridging these fields described in this study would be a beneficial intervention, facilitating communication and interaction both between practitioners and especially between specialists from different countries. Language is also important in implementing policies, for example in enforcing laws and actually creating the social norms that increasingly come to govern life online. Scaling cybersecurity policies from concept to action, and from practices and norms to universal principles that would enable their application to new situations, remains a significant challenge.