Cyber Security and Mental Health : The Fourth Industrial Revolution & Cyberspace’s Mental Health Stigma

“Cyber Security increasingly becomes part of the Socio Cyber fabric, the need of a 360 degree view in terms of Mental Health is now a social imperative.” – Dr Christina, founder of dR CLB, Partner and Group Managing Director of BI Group, and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Group Chair of Cyber Psychology & Cyber Space Mental Wellness (CyPSYCH) Special Interest Group and Policy Expert at the Global Foundation of Cyber Studies and Research Washington DC. founder of dR CLB, Partner and Group Managing Director of BI Group, and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Group Chair of Cyber Psychology & Cyber Space Mental Wellness (CyPSYCH) Special Interest Group and Policy Expert at the Global Foundation of Cyber Studies and Research Washington DC.

Mental health problems are one of the main contributors to overall disease burden and disability worldwide. One in six individuals are estimated to live with mental illness globally. 264–300 million individuals worldwide live with depression;284–300 million live with anxiety-related disorders; 46–60 million live with bipolar affective disorder;20–23 million live with schizophrenia;16 million live with eating disorders (Source: https://ourworldindata.org/)

Mental health is considered to be an integral part of our health. The World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete mental, physical, and social well-being and merely not just the absence of disease (World Health Organization).

In the fourth industrial revolution, where almost the entire world is connected through the internet, mental health plays a great role. Cyberspace, driven by information systems and the Internet, is changing our world in unprecedented ways by facilitating economic development and creating innovative ways for people to communicate, engage, negotiate and collaborate with one another. There is almost no aspect of human endeavor that has not been domesticated in the realm of cyberspace. Personal and societal changes are brought on by cyberspace. The number of human events that have shifted from actual, face-to-face meetings to interactions facilitated by remote, distant connectivity has increased dramatically, changing human behaviour, goals, governance, parenting, and so on. The wellbeing of cyberspace, like public health, has an effect on about every area of contemporary culture. Businesses, governments, and societies would be unable to survive if critical elements of the cyberspace system are compromised or lost (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010). Failures in cyberspace health may have a huge impact on a nation’s strength.

The Global Foundation for Cyber Studies and Research (GFCyber) has recently established a Special Interest Group (CyPSYCH) with a focus on cyber psychology, cyber space mental wellness and has published a white paper titled “The Fourth Industrial Revolution and CyberSpace Mental Health Stigma”, led by Dr Christina, Marek Boguszewicz, Zaheema Iqbal, Sarmad Ali Khan and Rafia Nauman. The aim of this paper is to address our understanding of the relationship between cyberspace and mental health, and to further investigate, analyse and present a call for action on Cyber Space Mental Health.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) is the progressive automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial processes using modern intelligent technologies. Large-scale machine-to-machine communication (M2M) and the Internet of Things (IoT) integrated to increase automation, improve communication, monitor production itself, and develop intelligent machines that can analyse and diagnose problems without the need for human intervention.

The Fourth Industrial brings a world of opportunities for organizations of all sizes to adopt technologies not only to survive, but thrive. However, this phase of the Industrial Revolution raises its own challenges in terms of cyber-security threats. The lack of effective cyber-security measures in IIoT-enabled production environments poses a serious threat to the new era of industrial production systems and processes. In an age of hyper-connected industries, everything is vulnerable. The world’s cyber security experts are concerned about the impact of Industry 4.0. In other words, all networked industries are vulnerable to attackers who want to exploit resources and data. This is a crisis that will divide society and create instability around the world.

Cyber security must be at the heart of people, property, government, and society in order to enable industry to securely initiate technological advances. Digital corruption and upheaval are not an option. If systems are hacked, they will perish as a result, not as an inconvenience in a vortex. The issue is not whether we fail to realise the full potential of such technologies, but how we come together as an international community to fight cybercrime and protect the digital infrastructure that forms the backbone of our world. The WEF Global Risk Report warns that the consequences of digital fragmentation and geopolitical tensions stand in the way of an international consensus on how to advance the Fourth Industrial Revolution. If it is to be a new world, we want to make it a world where we trust our digital systems and where we feel safe and secure.

Download The Paper

About GFCyber: 

Global Foundation for Cyber Studies & Research (GFCyber), is an independent, non-profit and non-partisan think tank comprising global cybersecurity experts, aims at producing research studies, providing advisory, and work on various aspects of classical, contemporary, and modern cyber related matters. It is a collaborative step in the direction that aims to dissect and address the cyber policy and technology issues prevailing in the modern hyper-connected world.

The foundation led by Professor Muhammad Khurram Khan, aspires to bring together experts from diverse backgrounds with key interest on cyberspace issues to stir an intellectual debate on different facets with an intersection between cyber policy and technology. Through consultation, advisory, research articles, independent analysis, policy papers, opinion pieces, discussions, lectures, and events, we aim to address the global cyberspace challenges and policy issues that affect every native of the digital world.

For more information on GFCyber , you can check out the website

GFCyber Special Interest Group (Cypsych) Cyber Psychology And Cyberspace Mental Wellness

This special interest group aims to be the ‘go-to’ group to provide a Holistic Cyber Psychology – Mental Wellness framework, roadmap and solutions based on science and technology

• Cyber psychology
• Mental wellness in cyber space – adults
• Mental wellness in cyber space – kids and teens
• Women in cyberspace
• Holistic therapy for cyber practitioners
• Positive Emotions
• Cyber Culture 
• Cyber Victims 

By Dr Christina Liang-Boguszewicz, Marek Boguszewicz, Zaheema Iqbal, Sarmad Ali Khan and Rafia Nauman at the Global Foundation of Cyber Studies and Research Washington DC.

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