Enabling digital trust in unstable markets

Safeguarding information while enabling collaboration requires methods that respect privacy, ensure accuracy, and sustain trust. Privacy-Enhancing Technologies create conditions where data becomes useful without being exposed, aligning innovation with responsibility. When companies exchange sensitive information, the tension between insight and confidentiality becomes evident. Cryptographic PETs apply advanced encryption that allows data to be analyzed securely, while distributed approaches such as federated learning ensure that knowledge can be shared without revealing raw information. The practical benefits are visible in sectors such as banking, healthcare, supply chains, and retail, where secure sharing strengthens operational efficiency and trust. At the same time, adoption requires balancing privacy, accuracy, performance, and costs, which makes strategic choices essential. A thoughtful approach begins with mapping sensitive data, selecting the appropriate PETs, and aligning them with governance and compliance frameworks. This is where technological innovation meets organizational responsibility, creating the foundation for trusted collaboration. #PrivacyEnhancingTechnologies #DataSharing #DigitalTrust #Cybersecurity

Building Trust in Digital Payments If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past decade, it’s that Nigerians—and Africans—want digital. From USSD to QR codes, mobile wallets to instant transfers, we’ve seen strong adoption and remarkable growth. But while usage is rising, trust remains fragile. From phishing scams and app takeovers to fake loan platforms, the rise in digital fraud is eroding confidence—especially among first-time and last-mile users. And in a system built on speed and data, trust is everything. ⸻ Trust Is the Real Currency We often talk about innovation in terms of technology—APIs, blockchain, AI—but the most transformative solutions are those that make people feel safe and seen. Without consumer protection at the heart of how we design, regulate, and communicate, we risk building systems that are efficient but exclusionary. We alienate the very people we aim to empower—women, rural communities, the elderly, informal workers—those for whom a single fraudulent experience can mean lasting mistrust. ⸻ Everyone Has a Role to Play Consumer protection must begin long before fraud happens. It starts with education—clear, accessible, localised messages that help users navigate the digital space. It continues with design—embedding features like transaction limits, biometric verification, real-time alerts, and clear dispute resolution pathways. And it must be backed by shared accountability—not just from regulators, but from every player in the ecosystem. We must move beyond silos. Trust is a collective responsibility. ⸻ How We Can Go Further Nigeria already has strong consumer protection guidelines, thanks to the CBN’s work on fraud prevention, KYC, and dispute resolution. These guardrails are a solid foundation—but their impact depends on how fully we embrace and implement them. Other countries offer lessons in operationalising trust: • In India, the Digital Ombudsman Scheme enables quick, low-cost dispute resolution—especially for vulnerable users. • In Singapore, shared fraud databases and anti-scam collaborations have reduced fraud losses across sectors. • In Brazil, Pix launched with user-first features like privacy controls, opt-outs, and instant alerts—driving mass adoption. These examples show what’s possible when trust is treated as a growth enabler, not just a compliance checkbox. ⸻ What’s Next? We’ve made remarkable strides—but the next phase of growth in digital payments hinges on embedding trust at every layer. We must stop treating consumer protection as an afterthought or a regulatory burden. It should be a strategic priority—built into how we design, partner, and respond. We need more transparency. More empathy. More collaboration. And above all, more accountability. #ConsumerProtection #DigitalPayments #TrustInTech #FintechNigeria #FinancialInclusion #WomenInFintech #NIBSS #PaymentsInnovation #Collaboration #EcosystemLeadership

Recent cyberattacks on M&S and Co-op highlight a critical evolution in how organisations must approach cyber resilience. In both cases, attackers exfiltrated sensitive personal data - leading to regulatory scrutiny, operational disruption, and reputational damage. These incidents exposed significant weaknesses in data visibility, governance, and protection, showing that recovery plans alone are not enough. This report explores how Data Security Posture Management (DSPM), by enabling continuous data discovery, classification, risk reduction, and access control, enhances an organisation’s ability to prevent, detect, and respond to data-related incidents. It positions DSPM as a core enabler of resilience - especially in data-rich sectors like retail - while comparing it with traditional approaches such as infrastructure hardening, business continuity, and user training. Importantly, a data-centric resilience programme should not be viewed as an alternative to other strategies, but as a foundational layer. A company may have strong backup systems and incident response playbooks. However, if poor data security leads to the leak of millions of customer records, the consequences can still be existential. Conversely, focusing on data without ensuring service continuity is also insufficient. The smart approach is integration: resilience efforts such as Zero Trust, business continuity planning, and incident response must all incorporate a data-first perspective. Organisations that embed DSPM into their resilience frameworks will not only limit the impact of future breaches, but also strengthen compliance, maintain trust, and protect the core asset driving today’s digital business - their data. #CyberResilience #DataSecurity #DSPM #DataGovernance #IncidentResponse #ZeroTrust #CISO #DPO #CIO #RiskManagement #GDPR #RetailSecurity #CustomerTrust #SecurityLeadership #ResilienceStrategy #DigitalTrust #ComplianceReady

Digital Public Infrastructure without Trust is just Bureaucracy In Brussels, in Lisbon, in every European capital, one term is gaining momentum. Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). The idea is simple: shared digital rails that allow governments, institutions, and citizens to interact seamlessly. Identity. Payments. Data exchange. But there is a fundamental blind spot: Without trust, DPI is just another layer of bureaucracy. Nowhere is this clearer than in real estate: Data is fragmented across agencies, brokers, and public offices. Housing represents one of the largest assets of European families. Transactions depend on unverifiable or sometimes manipulated data. Citizens are asked to trust a process that is slow, opaque, and vulnerable to error. This is not sustainable. And it cannot serve as the foundation of Europe’s digital future. That’s why we are creating the Trust Layer. The convergence of AI(performance and Blockchain(Trust and Tokenimics) AI → collective intelligence that learns, predicts, and decides. Tokenomics → incentives and governance that align thousands of distributed actors. Because if families cannot trust the information behind the most important asset of their lives. Their home. How can they be expected to trust Europe’s digital future? The Trust Layer introduces a new standard designed to: Verify the authenticity of every piece of information in a transaction. Guarantee its integrity and accountability across the system. Return liquidity of data to those who generate it: agents, brokers, and citizens. Now imagine this: When you buy a house, every document — ownership, energy certificate, registry, carries a verified seal of trust. No disputes. No hidden risks. No uncertainty. That is what trust looks like in practice. And that is what DPI needs if it is to become more than a political slogan. The Trust Layer is real estate infrastructure, guaranteeing trust, reputation, and data liquidity. And if Europe wants DPI to deliver on its promise of inclusion, transparency, and resilience, it must embed trust at the core of housing and property markets. Because housing is not just a market. It is the backbone of our societies. And societies cannot thrive on broken trust. --- My name is Tiago Dias, founder of Unlockit, and I hope you take time to read this document from Cambridge University. It explores the hard questions policymakers must now face: - Which institutional models are best suited for governing DPI? - How can policymakers navigate trade-offs between innovation and risk in fast-changing environments? - What collaborative mechanisms can align standards and safeguards across borders? These questions are not theoretical. They echo across current European Union initiatives — from European Digital Identity - eIDAS 2.0, to European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI), to the AI Act. All of them point to one conclusion. Trust is the real infrastructure Europe must get right. #Trust