2 Introduction By developing and implementing a National Cybersecurity Strategy, a nation can improve the security of its digital infrastructure and ultimately contribute to its broader socio-economic aspirations. National leaders need to be strategic about the opportunities offered and the risks posed to their countries by the digital environment; they also need to establish a clear vision of the digital future they wish to create. 2.1 What is cybersecurity Several national and international definitions of the term “cybersecurity” exist. For the purpose of this document, the term “cybersecurity” is meant to describe the collection of tools, policies, guidelines, risk management approaches, actions, trainings, best practices, assurance and technologies that can be used to protect the availability, integrity and confidentiality of assets in the connected infrastructures pertaining to government, private organisations and citizens; these assets include connected computing devices, personnel, infrastructure, applications, services, telecommunications systems, and data in the cyber-environment.2 2.2 Benefits of a National Cybersecurity Strategy and strategy development process National cybersecurity strategies can take many forms and can go into varying levels of detail, depending on the particular country’s objectives and levels of cyber-readiness. Therefore, there is no established and commonly agreed definition of what constitutes a National Cybersecurity Strategy. Relying on existing research in this area, this document encourages stakeholders to think of a National Cybersecurity Strategy as: • an expression of the vision, high-level objectives, principles and priorities that guide a country in addressing cybersecurity; • an overview of the stakeholders tasked with improving cybersecurity of the nation and their respective roles and responsibilities; and • a description of the steps, programmes and initiatives that a country will undertake to protect its national cyber-infrastructure and, in the process, increase its security and resilience. 2 Definition adapted from https://www.bcmpedia.org/wiki/Cyber_Security Guide to Developing a National Cybersecurity Strategy 13