Reflections on McPartland review of cyber security and economic growth 

Barry O’Donohoe, Raidiam’s CEO and Co-Founder, reflects on the key topics discussed at the McPartland review roundtable. 

I was delighted to be part of a recent roundtable with The Rt Hon Stephen McPartland MP for his independent review Driving Economic Growth through Cyber Security. Its purpose is to look at the role of cyber security as an enabler for building trust, resilience and unleashing growth across the UK economy. 

The urgency of cyber security in economic growth

A key takeaway for me was that the cyber-clock is ticking – there is an urgent need to future-proof the environment against mounting cyber risks associated with emerging technology to maximise the commercial and consumer benefits. The UK is a global powerhouse for legal, financial, and insurance services. Data and cyber security technology present a huge opportunity to establish the UK as both the safest and most innovative place to do business. 

A key enabler to exploiting the benefits of digital and data technology is to have the right foundations with security and trust at its heart. Achieving this depends on the broad application of open international security standards. 

The role of global open security standards

Raidiam has played a pioneering role in both developing and applying the global gold standard that is the Financial-grade API (FAPI) profile from the OpenID Foundation – developed with the brightest industry minds over nearly a decade – which is now the dominant global standard for high assurance data sets. 

The evidence of Open Banking in the UK where it was first applied, is that a rising tide has lifted all boats. It has unlocked new commercial value, empowered and enabled consumers and SMEs, and accelerated growth. It has become a blueprint and reference point for other global central banks and sector regulators. 

To drive this further, we need to see global open security standards being applied more widely than regulatory directives require currently. They must be folded into cyber security frameworks such as ISO and NIST CSF to create uniformity in implementation more broadly. Critically, there is no point in having standards if we don’t validate adherence to them through rigorous conformance and certification to demonstrate confidence; thus providing trust at home and on the international stage. 

Future-proofing for success

This will enable the UK to accelerate the development of a strong and innovative tech ecosystem that is building in cyber resilience for a prosperous digital economy. By using conformance as an essential aspect of adoption, organisations can future-proof their technology landscape by getting ahead of emerging regulations before their implementation. 

Today is the time to future-proof the environment, ensuring success for tomorrow. We all have a role to play in realising the benefits. 

Interested in learning more about how we deliver secure and trusted data sharing ecosystems? Get in touch today!

Barry O’Donohoe is CEO and Co-Founder of Raidiam.