So, it’s even more critical that your evaluation includes thorough and careful consideration of your organization’s specific needs and risk profile. Lastly, the red lines indicate where the pairing introduces cyber security risks, while the green highlights positive cyber security effects, such as enhanced threat detection or improved data security. It highlights how specific synergies, like AI and IoT, contribute to enhanced cyber security while also introducing challenges such as data privacy concerns, emphasising the dual-edged nature of technological convergence. Our literature review found little research specifically focussing on the impacts of technology convergence on cyber security – indeed, we needed to drop the term “convergence” from our searches to discover relevant research, suggesting a lack of research directly studying the subject. The localised processing capabilities of edge computing reduce latency, while AI enhances predictive capabilities. More specifically, the literature has demonstrated that these integrations address critical challenges, improve operational efficiency, and improve cyber security.
Real-Time Monitoring and Threat Detection Sarker footnote 36 emphasises the role of digital twins in real-time monitoring, where systems continuously collect data to detect deviations from normal behaviour. Cyber-Twins for Transport Security Yigit footnote 14 and Koronitis footnote 9 both explore the concept of Cyber-Twins for creating environments where researchers and practitioners can remotely practice attack and defence scenarios specific to the transport sector. This approach enables proactive threat detection and response by simulating potential attack scenarios and predicting vulnerabilities across the entire product lifecycle. Jin footnote 33 and Jiang footnote 34 also explore blockchain’s application in securing digital twins. Soori footnote 32 further elaborates on blockchain’s cryptographic capabilities, noting that its decentralised nature ensures the immutability of smart contracts, thus preventing unauthorised alterations to data. Suvarna footnote 30 and Rame footnote 31 both discuss blockchain’s role in enhancing transparency and data security in digital twins.
If an attacker were able to gain control of BCI controlled prosthetics or wheelchairs they may be able to lead users into physically dangerous situations, while denial-of-service attacks could cause users to lose personal independence. Robotics combines principles from engineering, computer science, and artificial intelligence to develop systems that replicate or enhance human capabilities. This includes fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, developing standardised security frameworks, and prioritising stakeholder education to ensure comprehensive protection. Emerging countermeasures, such as lightweight cryptographic techniques, adaptive intrusion https://travelusanews.com/how-artificial-intelligence-will-make-travel-platforms-better-in-2024.html detection systems, decentralised frameworks like blockchain, and AI-driven threat detection, demonstrate significant potential in mitigating these risks. The combination of edge computing and IoT creates a powerful technological framework but also introduces significant cyber security challenges. These solutions collectively ensure that the benefits of edge computing and IoT synergy are realised without compromising system security.
1.2 Summary of Digital Twins and AI
Our review explored the convergence of emerging technologies and the resulting novel or compounding cyber security risks across a range of technologies. The paper highlights the necessity for robust security measures to safeguard these distributed networks. The report recommends privacy approaches that consider cognitive freedom, highlights the need for internationally harmonised ethical standards, and moral examination of neural systems as part of research. The report highlights the dual-use nature of the research – both military and civilian use cases exist, suggesting that China is likely to use brain-computer interfaces and robotics in a military context. These sources provide practical, real-world perspectives on the technology synergies mentioned in the report herein, and their impacts on cyber security, offering a comprehensive view of emerging challenges and solutions in the technological landscape. The method used to identify widely discussed pairings have unintentionally generated false positives, where on closer review the results did not focus on the intersection with cyber security.
3 Stage 2: Initial prioritisation of Technologies, and technology pairings
The selected technology pairings are presented in descending order of the number of papers included in the review. Finally, the fast-evolving nature of emerging technologies means that cyber security risks will continue to develop alongside new use cases and threats. Some works were excluded due to superficial engagement with cyber security — treating it merely as a general concern without offering substantive analysis, specific risk identification, or evidence-based mitigation strategies. As a result, the analysis in these areas is necessarily limited and, in some cases, relies on broader discussions of digitisation and technology adoption rather than specific cyber security insights. While some convergences, such as AI and IoT, have been widely studied, others—particularly emerging pairings like biological computing and IoT or quantum communications and LEO satellites—have far less research available. Technology Application – A group of technologies come together to enable specific tasks, solve a problem, or meet user needs.
- Patel et al. footnote 116 describe how devices should implement good security controls, including biometrics, authentication, and encryption to protect users sensitive data.
- If an attacker were able to gain control of BCI controlled prosthetics or wheelchairs they may be able to lead users into physically dangerous situations, while denial-of-service attacks could cause users to lose personal independence.
- It enables secure and efficient data processing, machine learning inference, and device management at the edge, allowing IoT systems to operate even when not connected to the cloud.
- As technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, 6G networks, edge computing, nanotechnologies, and robotics increasingly intersect, they create both unprecedented opportunities and complex vulnerabilities.
Increase in Data Breaches and Ransomware Attacks
It also isolates the work environment through endpoint encryption, sandboxing, and secure content rendering. It enforces identity-based access control directly at the point where users interact with applications and data. Moreover, the US Department of Defense is implementing zero-trust at scale by mapping 45 capabilities and 152 activities across seven pillars to achieve advanced maturity by 2032. It generates encryption keys by transmitting single photons between dedicated transmitter and receiver units across fiber, free-space, and satellite links. For example, Vodafone Group partnered with IBM in 2025 to pilot quantum-safe encryption in its mobile network infrastructure.
1 Digital Twins and Artificial Intelligence
By processing data closer to its source, edge computing minimises the need for sensitive information to be transmitted to centralised cloud servers, thereby reducing exposure to potential cyber threats. Across the reviewed literature, there is no evidence of a transformative new cyber security paradigm, or a fundamental redefinition of vulnerabilities introduced by the convergence of edge computing and IoT. Fog and edge computing, combined https://iwantmyopenid.org/2022/11 with the Internet of Things (IoT), offer a transformative solution to key challenges in distributed systems, such as reducing latency, improving scalability, and enhancing security.
Rising Global Cost of Cybercrime
Access control systems traditionally worked in isolation, but now companies are looking for physical security systems that can work together seamlessly through integrations or an all-in-one solution. Hybrid work security systems like Kisi provide global access control, so you can remotely manage access to all your workspaces for all users and groups, anywhere. This complexity is partly because the threats facing businesses are ever-changing, but also because security tech now has a bigger purpose than just protection. With cloud-based systems offering remote security management, businesses can monitor their premises seamlessly, but they must enhance data protection against emerging risks. The rising demand for a comprehensive, intuitive security landscape has given way to centralized platforms for businesses to implement and manage components more effectively.
As a result, businesses and security teams can access, manage and control their security operations from anywhere at any time. The cloud continues revolutionizing how businesses store and share information, laying a solid foundation for the future of security management. To find out how businesses are balancing security and technology, let’s examine what technology ranks highest on the industry’s security trends for 2026. Generally speaking, the goal is to ensure that only authorized users have access to specific data and that it is protected from corruption. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, businesses must remain up to date with the current cybersecurity and information trends of 2026 to adequately safeguard their security data and operations.
