3 A NATIONAL CYBERSECURITY STRATEGY The approach described in this guide embraces the Principles of Commonwealth Cybergovernance and draws on published Cybersecurity strategies and good practice from a range of countries. Accordingly, it outlines the key components a National Cybersecurity Strategy should address. The framework offers guidance to countries in the development and modification of their national Cybersecurity Strategies, emphasising the need for each country to take into account its culture, its national priorities, the risks it faces and the impact of its strategy both regionally and globally. 3.1 Development of the Strategy The success of any national strategy depends on the practical circumstances within the government and the country. It is important that the project to develop a national Cybersecurity strategy attracts the strong and visible support of highest levels of Government. However, due to the nature of Cybersecurity, it is also imperative that the National Cybersecurity strategy is developed in a multi-stakeholder partnership that brings together the public sector, private sector and the civil society while also drawing on the knowledge, expertise and competencies of the international community. This requires a delicate balance of strong leadership coupled with an inclusive approach. The exercise of developing the strategy will benefit all participating stakeholders by improving awareness and mutual understanding of the disparate opportunities, risks, needs and capabilities of the different stakeholders. Reflecting the global and connected nature of Cyberspace, these stakeholders may be national and international bodies, both regional and global, both public and private sector plus civil society. The choice of vocabulary used in Cybersecurity can represent a challenge because in English some words related to Cybersecurity can convey quite different meanings to different audiences. Further, nuances are often lost in translation between languages. It is important that the specialist Cybersecurity words used in the national strategy are defined, in consultation with the key stakeholders, and recorded in a glossary. An example glossary accompanies this guide as appendix 1. In preparation for launching a national Cybersecurity strategy and throughout its delivery, it may be beneficial to inform and educate media, politicians and other influential individuals, to harness their ability to influence the wider audience whose support will contribute to the strategy’s success. 3.2 Resources and market forces Some actions called for by the strategy will be delivered under the direct control of government agencies but those agencies are quite likely to lack the necessary skills and resources. Therefore, a key part of the strategy’s design should consider including, where necessary, the allocation and development of those resources in order to respond to the strategy. Some actions will fall on the private sector and it is important that expectations are realistic and sympathetic to their commercial environment, to avoid perverse outcomes that may result when market forces respond to ill-considered government Page 5 of 33 www.cto.int