What is Digital Trust

In the modern world, digital trust is not optional - it is the mission-critical foundation that underpins the global digital economy for governments, businesses and consumers. But what is digital trust and how can device manufacturers, chip vendors, software developers, integrators and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) build and sustain confidence in their products and services?

As a consumer, you intuitively understand digital trust, even if you find it difficult to define. Every day, all over the world, we trust devices and their applications, organizations, governments and individuals with our data. This might be seemingly trivial information, like a social media post about breakfast, or highly sensitive personal and financial data tied to our health and wealth. In a connected world, this information is constantly at risk.

While the ability to access data from multiple points is helpful, it also increases risk exposure. More access points mean more opportunities for misuse, breaches or unauthorized access. As a consumer, you may have already experienced the negative results of this increased threat. Even if you have not, would you entrust personal information about your finances, medical conditions and family to organizations that demonstrate weak security and poor accountability? Would you trust your banking details with a provider that cannot demonstrate robust, verifiable safeguards? Would you trust a new software update downloaded into your connected car, which may compromise its cybersecurity, and hence your and your family's safety?

From governments and hospitals to banks and technology providers, organizations in all industries are beginning to understand these risks and the threat to their operations, recognizing that trust is now a measurable business asset rather than an abstract concept.

Why digital trust matters

Digital trust is vital to the way we live our lives. It is the assurance that digital technology, services and organizations will protect your data, respect your privacy and operate reliably. In an increasingly digital economy, consumers will hesitate to adopt new platforms and connected products if trust is lacking, meaning businesses will struggle to scale innovations if there is no trust.

However, trust does not just mean security. It also encompasses increasingly important concepts such as transparency, ethical use of data and regulatory compliance. It requires consistent, auditable proof that systems will behave as expected. Companies that develop strong digital trust therefore gain a competitive advantage and customer loyalty while building long-term reputational resilience.

Digital trust is no longer just a baseline requirement; it is a market differentiator. Organizations that fail to establish trust risk losing customers, investment, market relevance and even face legal liability.

What are the challenges?

Digital trust is fragile. High-profile cases, such as the July 2024 global IT outage that triggered widespread 'blue screen' failures for approximately 8.5 million Microsoft Windows users, the May 2024 cyberattack on the UK Ministry of Defence and the March 2021 breach of a cloud-based security camera provider, which exposed live feeds and archived images from over 150,000 surveillance cameras worldwide, highlight how trust can be damaged overnight.^1,2,3

Similarly, a 2015 evaluation revealed the onboard system used in several vehicles could be exploited, allowing hackers to take control of critical functions, posing a serious safety, privacy and compliance risk. This resulted in the recall of over 1.4 million vehicles.⁴

These incidents show that disruption affects not only operations but also public perception, privacy and consumer confidence.

Digital trust is not being eroded by a single factor. Today, unprecedented pressures are coming from multiple directions, impacting consumers, businesses and governments alike:

• Escalating cyber threats - ransomware, phishing and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks continue to grow in scale and sophistication
• AI-powered identity fraud - deepfakes and voice cloning undermine traditional authentication methods
• Third-party and supply chain vulnerabilities - a weakness in one agent within a supply chain can impact multiple businesses
• Data privacy challenges in AI - prompt injection and model leaks expose sensitive information
• Payment platform fraud - increasing exploitation of peer-to-peer systems and digital wallets
• Regulatory complexity - legislation such as the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), AI Act, Cyber Resilience Act and the Network and Information Security Directive (NIS2) demands compliance across jurisdictions, while differing national standards make compliance a challenge
• Rapid technological change - innovation often outpaces regulation, leaving gaps in oversight
• Insider threats - systems and data can be misused by disgruntled employees/contractors

Each challenge requires a proactive strategy, from building stronger identity verification to robust vendor oversight and transparent governance, supported by continuous testing, certification and risk monitoring.