This World Standards Day (Tuesday 14th October), the global community is reportedly uniting to highlight the critical role of International Standards in driving a future of sustainable development and technological trust.
Organised by the world’s leading standards developers – the IEC, ISO and ITU – this annual event is said to be a powerful reminder that global collaboration is built on a shared framework.
This year’s World Standards Day reportedly explores how these indispensable International Standards are the cornerstone of collaboration, ensuring interoperability and driving multi-stakeholder cooperation across industries, governments and organisations.
Standards are said to provide the essential language and methodology that allow diverse entities to work together seamlessly, fostering the trust needed to achieve complex, common objectives – from tackling climate change to safeguarding digital environments.
As organisations that rely on and contribute to International Standards, Yubico, Wireless Logic and Arqit discuss the often unseen role standards play in enabling efficiency, collaboration and security worldwide.
Niall McConachie, Regional Director (UK & Ireland), Yubico: “The internet was not initially built with security in mind and global standards are now critical in keeping the digital world secure and interoperable.
“Without these, organisations risk fragmented systems that create gaps and erode trust – leaving employees and customers open to increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks like phishing, which is now being further fuelled by AI.
“Open authentication frameworks such as FIDO2, WebAuthn and FIDO U2F have shown how security and usability can advance together, enabling secure password-less access to become a reality at scale.
“As a leader in setting these standards and driving adoption globally since 2007, we’ve seen first-hand how collaboration across the industry is instrumental to laying the foundations of secure online access.
“This World Standards Day and beyond, we’re committed to creating a digital world that’s safer for everyone.”
Iain Davidson, Head of Product Marketing, Wireless Logic: “IoT has reached a tipping point, with billions of devices now deployed across borders, industries and networks.
“The challenge is no longer deployment but ensuring those devices connect securely and consistently wherever they operate.
“That’s where shared standards come in.
“Without them, enterprises face fragmented systems that add cost, complexity and risk – slowing progress at the very moment industries from energy to healthcare are relying more heavily on connected devices for critical services.
“Standards like the GSMA’s SGP.32 change that equation by making it easier for providers to manage eSIM profiles across their IoT estate.
“They provide the foundation for global interoperability, enabling devices to be managed remotely, securely and at scale.
“By aligning on these frameworks, organisations can deploy internationally with confidence, lower operational cost, reduce technical and commercial risk and keep essential services running without interruption.
“The case for strong, universal standards has never been clearer and with SGP.32, the industry has a proven path to unlock IoT’s full potential.”
Jonathan Nguyen-Duy, Chief Technology Officer, Arqit: “The biggest risk in preparing for quantum is the current lack of global coordination over standards.
“If international governments and enterprises continue down different paths, we’ll end up with a fragmented patchwork of defences that don’t align.
“These won’t hold up under real-world attack, as fragmentation creates weak links that adversaries will inevitably exploit.
“Global standards in quantum-safe cryptography provide an important basis for interoperability and confidence, ensuring encryption works consistently across borders and sectors.
“Standards also reduce duplication, accelerate adoption and enable organisations to plan and invest at scale.
“Today, the need for collaboration and coordinated standards has never been greater, because without them the world’s most critical data and infrastructure will be left vulnerable at the exact moment quantum becomes a practical threat.”
