Establish the Importance of Digital Trust

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

Define digital trust.
Explain the software development lifecycle and its role in building digital trust.

This module was produced in collaboration with the World Economic Forum. Learn more about partner content on Trailhead.

What Is Digital Trust?

Trust is the reliance or confidence that one places in someone or something based on their perceived character, strength, ability, or truthfulness. It is an essential aspect of human relationships, as it allows individuals to feel secure and confident in their interactions with others.

In today’s increasingly digital world, many interactions and relationships occur in digital ecosystems, and digital trust is crucial to their success. Digital trust involves not only trust in the technology but also trust in the people, processes, and organizations involved in digital interactions. This includes trust in the security, privacy, reliability, and accuracy of digital systems, data and information. Technology should meet certain goals that people expect, no matter where they are or how they use it. These goals often reflect the rules and values of the society where the technology is used. By recognizing these shared goals in the use of technology and services in a certain area, those who create and own the technology can work to meet what society expects.

Security vs Trustworthiness

Understanding the distinction between security and trustworthiness is essential in this process. Security refers to the protection of systems, networks, and data from unauthorized access, while trustworthiness encompasses a broader range of aspects, such as transparency, accountability, fairness, privacy, safety, and security.

A secure system that is not trustworthy can be a software application that covertly collects and stores user data without permission. Although the software has strong security measures to protect data, its lack of transparency and user consent reduces trustworthiness. This can raise ethical concerns and breach privacy, making users uncertain about how their data is being collected and used. Security cannot compensate for the lack of trustworthiness in such cases.

The Business Perspective

From a business perspective, digital trust is the extent to which a company has prioritized and built trust into its digital products and services to ensure those products and services are reliable, safe, ethical, and able to protect customer privacy and security.

Digital trust is a vital concern for companies providing digital services and products because it is essential for building and maintaining customer loyalty. Without trust, customers are less likely to do business with a company, and they are more likely to share negative experiences with others. This can lead to a loss of revenue, market share, and brand reputation.

The following information illustrates the gravity of consequences when digital trust is not a priority for businesses.

Financial impact: Businesses that fail to address digital trust issues can experience revenue losses due to decreased customer confidence and brand damage. Furthermore, companies may face increased costs associated with legal fees, regulatory fines, and damage control efforts.
Market share loss: Consumers would likely stop doing business with a company that experienced a major trust breach, leading to substantial market share losses for those companies. In some cases, companies may see a decline in market share following high-profile incidents.
Brand reputation damage: Consumers tend to view trust as crucial in the digital age, with a considerable number indicating that a company's reputation greatly influences their decision to engage with the brand. It is suggested that events that erode digital trust can result in long-lasting reputational damage, which could take several years to repair.
Litigation and regulatory penalties: Companies that fail to address digital trust issues may face legal and regulatory consequences, suggesting that businesses involved in digital trust breaches can face millions of dollars in litigation and regulatory penalties.
Employee morale and turnover: Companies involved in trust breaches may also experience higher employee turnover rates compared to those that prioritize digital trust, leading to low employee morale and increased hiring and training costs.

This information underscores the importance of digital trust in today’s business landscape. Companies need to prioritize security, transparency, and ethical practices in the development and deployment of their products and services to maintain customer trust and avoid the significant consequences associated with trust breaches.

A group of five individuals in a family room all using different digital devices.

The Consumer Perspective

From a consumer perspective, digital trust is the individual’s expectation that digital technologies and services–and the organizations providing them–will protect all stakeholders’ interests and uphold societal expectations and values.

Consumers want to believe that the products and services they use are secure, reliable, and safe. They expect companies to follow the rules, regulations, and ethical standards that govern their operations. Digital trust is essential for consumers as it helps them make informed decisions, protect their personal data and privacy, and ensure the integrity of their online interactions and real-world activities.

The impact of successful hacking attacks, such as phishing scams and ransomware, can cause victims to experience extreme anxiety, depression, loss of trust in technology, and a sense of violation and loss of control. It is important for us to recognize the effects of these events, both physical and psychological, and take steps to prevent them from happening in the first place.

The Digital Trust Gap

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, trust in governments and companies responsible for creating and using digital technology is rapidly declining. This erosion of trust is fueled by concerns over the safety and security of artificial intelligence and smart devices,data breaches, and lack of transparency in data practices. To bridge the digital trust gap, businesses and consumers must work together to build a more secure and trustworthy digital ecosystem.

Building Digital Trust in the Software Development Lifecycle

The Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a systematic approach to developing software that prioritizes quality, reliability, and security. This process typically includes five phases.

Planning: This phase involves assessing the organization's security needs and developing a plan for how to meet those needs.
Requirements: This phase involves identifying the requirements for the software, including the security requirements.
Design: This phase involves creating a detailed design for the software, including the security features.
Implementation: This phase involves building the software according to the design.
Testing: This phase involves testing the software to ensure that it meets the requirements and is free of security vulnerabilities.

A company’s existing SDLC process is a good place to start building a digital trust framework by incorporating security considerations early in the development process. Leveraging the five phases of an existing SDLC process can help companies prioritize trust as a core value, improve their software development practices, which in turn, builds and maintains trust with customers and stakeholders.

Companies can also consider these practical strategies to build trustworthiness in their software services and products.

Phase	Strategies to Build Digital Trust
Planning	Establish a dedicated team responsible for ensuring trust values are embedded throughout the development process. Involve legal and compliance teams in the early stages to ensure adherence to regulatory requirements.
Requirements	Utilize risk assessment methodologies to identify and prioritize potential threats to privacy, security, and ethics. Include acceptance criteria related to trustworthiness in the definition of done for each feature.
Design	Adopt secure coding practices and guidelines to minimize vulnerabilities. Leverage privacy-enhancing technologies like anonymization and encryption to protect sensitive data.
Implementation	Integrate automated security testing tools into the continuous integration and delivery pipeline. Establish a vulnerability management process to track and remediate identified issues.
Testing	Perform code reviews with a focus on security, privacy, and ethical implications. Utilize tools like static and dynamic application security testing (SAST and DAST) to detect vulnerabilities.

By implementing these steps, companies can begin to prioritize building digital trust into their products and services, which can lead to increased customer satisfaction and trust.

We’ve mentioned what companies can do to ensure a trusted relationship with consumers. On the other side, here are some ways that consumers can take control of privacy and security.

Be informed and educated: Consumers can educate themselves on best practices for digital privacy and security, including how to create strong passwords, how to identify phishing scams, and how to protect their personal information. This helps them make informed decisions about the products and services they use and the companies they trust.
Use privacy and security features: Consumers can use the privacy and security features that are built into the products and services they use, such as multi-factor authentication, encryption, and privacy settings. This helps protect their personal information and prevent unauthorized access.
Provide feedback: Consumers can provide feedback to companies about their experiences with their products and services. This helps companies identify areas where they can improve their digital trust practices and prioritize building trust into their software services and products.
Support companies that prioritize digital trust: Consumers can choose to support companies that prioritize digital trust by purchasing their products and services and promoting them to others. This incentivizes companies to continue to prioritize digital trust and build it into their software services and products.

In conclusion, both consumers and companies play a critical role in building digital trust. Consumers can take charge of their digital privacy and security, which can encourage companies to prioritize digital trust in their software services and products. Simultaneously, companies can prioritize digital trust by creating products and services that prioritize privacy, security, and ethics, leading to increased customer satisfaction, trust, and a more secure digital ecosystem.

Now that we’ve reviewed the business and consumer perspective of digital trust along with ways to use the software development lifecycle to create a digital trust culture, let’s explore and apply a digital trust framework.