Recovery, Renewal, Resilience

As hospitality venues prepare for a safe re-opening, technology can support customer safety and rebuild client confidence. For example, the necessity of contactless service delivery has accelerated and motivated the wider adoption of new technologies across hospitality venues. Consider developing an audit and certification process that supports and guides hospitality venues in the adoption of new technology:

• Identify actions that can make hospitality venues more COVID-safe using technology e.g. replace tangible menus with an ordering app, use scannable QR codes, replace room keys with mobile keys, contactless communications using customer-facing technology tools, guest communications via chatbots/messaging platforms, contactless temperature checks at entrances, air quality improvement and ventilation via bipolar ionisation technology
• Use the identified actions to establish a checklist of practices that hospitality venues may be audited against
• Identify the minimum requirement for hospitality venues to be eligible for certification of COVID-safe technology adoption and service provision
• Identify how the hospitality venue protects its customers by using secure platforms
• Use the checklist and minimum requirements as part of an audit process to certify the safety of hospitality venues
• Apply the audit process to hospitality venues
• Use the audit process to identify further actions that hospitality venues can implement to increase their COVID-safety
• Publicise a list of certified hospitality venues
• Provide certified hospitality venues with certificates/logos that they can display in their window and online
• Have a whistleblower procedure for staff and customers to report serious breaches

AI uses computer systems to perform tasks associated with human intelligence. This can be used to help detect and interpret patterns useful for managing emergencies. Explore with AI experts how AI may be used in COVID-19 mitigation, preparation, response and recovery:

• Mitigation: To recognize patterns in the environment to provide early warning e.g. data on compounding factors associated with COVID-19 infection such as urban poverty to provide information on potentially high risk areas
• Preparation: To analyse patterns in natural and social phenomena e.g. impacts of natural disasters on hospital capacity during COVID-19. Run emergency simulations to mathematically model detailed emergency management plans to account for compounding disasters during the pandemic
• Response and Recovery: To evaluate situational information from social media, and surveillance cameras to determine where response is needed, and to support coordination of recovery activities e.g. drones can be used to transport PPE, using online information developed by mapping COVID hotspots. In the UK, Windracers (a humanitarian aid transportation company) used delivery drones to fly four times a day to the Isle of Wight, taking just 10 minutes to deliver PPE

The impacts of COVID-19 have seen millions of children worldwide lose months of face-to-face education with their teachers at school. Globally, children continue to be sent home from school due to outbreaks or face complete school closure. The availability of adequate digital technology and internet access at home has a huge impact on the ability of children to engage in e-learning. The rapid shift to e-learning prompted by the pandemic has resurfaced long-standing issues of inequality, including the digital divide once bridged by schools. Consider:

• Shortening online lessons by a small margin to create a space for one-to-one discussions or problem solving with tutors that are often missing when lessons go online
• Household disparities in access to the internet and technology and the impacts this may have on girls. If there is competition in the home over resources it may be that the male child is given priority access while girls are increasingly asked to support with domestic chores rather than complete school work. Consider how schools can be supported in providing technology or access to technology to vulnerable children
• Ensure teachers are trained to use new technology for online teaching. This includes making use of more innovative modes of engagement beyond a lecture e.g. interactive voting, message boards etc.

Computers and other digital devices are increasingly being used to teach children, and as part of children's education into today's digital economy. However, research shows that technology's impact on student learning has remained limited, partly because the rapid adoption of technology has not been accompanied by appropriate training of teachers. COVID-19 has demonstrated the importance of digital technologies. It is important that teachers have the capacity and capabilities to use emerging and new technologies, and to impart these skills onto students as they will be required to navigate and work in a digital world. Consider:

• How to develop partnerships between schools and the technology industry to help teachers develop the skills they need to educate children effectively
• How to offer and encourage teachers to undertake additional qualifications to support the curriculum e.g. Fujitsu's Certificate of Digital Excellence (CoDE) which is a free, online learning experience for teachers, which helps educate them on topics such as Artificial Intelligence, cyber Virtual Reality, Big Data and Programming and Robotics. Each of these has been recognised as a technology or skill needed by the next generation to help with their future careers

AI uses computer systems to perform tasks associated with human intelligence. This can be used to help detect and interpret patterns useful for managing emergencies. Explore with AI experts how AI may be used in COVID-19 mitigation, preparation, response and recovery:

• Mitigation: To recognize patterns in the environment to provide early warning e.g. data on compounding factors associated with COVID-19 infection such as urban poverty to provide information on potentially high risk areas
• Preparation: To analyse patterns in natural and social phenomena, and run emergency simulations to develop detailed emergency management plans
• Response and Recovery: To sort situational information from social media, and surveillance cameras (fixed, drones, satellites) to determine where response is needed, and to support coordination of recovery activities

GISs use computer-based tools to allow users to create interactive queries, edit and analyse spatial data and to visually share results by presenting them as maps or other infographics in real-time. During COVID-19 GISs have been used to reveal patterns and trends to help communicate information to the public, develop forecasting tools to identify trends in the virus’ transmission, and to support resource allocation during COVID response. Consider using GIS to:

• Develop publicly available maps. In Singapore, a publicly available real-time map updates on the current situation in public spaces. This can help residents to plan their activities safely e.g. show how busy public spaces are and the location of less busy spaces
• Provide near real-time updates of estimated wait times at Accident & Emergency. In Northern Ireland, a dashboard is updated hourly by NIDirect (an official government website) that provides information on open hospitals and wait times
• Inform people about changes in business operations and location of key services. In New Zealand, officials built a map that shows open businesses and whether or not the organization’s operations have been impacted e.g. reduced hours or closures
• Develop self-reporting health systems. In Switzerland, public health officials built a crowdsourcing application for people to anonymously self-report their health status. In addition, they can report their post code, age, size of household, living situation, and pre-existing health conditions. The results are shown on a map that health officials can use to assess gaps in confirmed cases and areas where people are self-reporting symptoms, and to identify areas for intervention

COVID-19 has meant organisations have had to rapidly innovate online. This has required them to embrace some unfamiliar digital tools. Those with a relative lack of skill or confidence in this unplanned digital transformation, are at heightened risk from cybercrime. Consider actions:

• That determine an organisations’ confidence:
  • Gather information on the digital skills and confidence in businesses, and what they need to improve these
  • Raise awareness of the risks of cybercrime
  • Provide appropriate support to businesses as they innovate online
• That organisations should implement now:
  • Secure remote access/ collaboration services
  • Increase anti-phishing measures
  • Address business continuity
  • Establish a culture of cyber hygiene by resourcing and managing/monitoring assets
• That organisations should implement soon:
  • Understand your security and the effectiveness of controls
  • Put security actions into all decision making
  • Secure users’ confidence, and data, protect your brand
  • Prioritise security in budget allocations
• That organisations should implement in the future (12 months):
  • Think longer term about security of processes and architectures
  • Prioritise, adopt and accelerate the execution of strict access control and security through virtual network functions
  • Automate to improve security of users, devices and data

In Korea the following processes have been put in place for civil servants and these lessons could be expanded to other organisations:

Expand systems and optimizing resource

• Expanding the number of VPN licenses from 24,000 to 40,000, an increase of 16,000
• Optimizing load distribution methods to manage web server traffic
• Increasing the maximum network capacity (national information telecom networks and VPN broadband from 1G to 4G)

Support VPN use among employees working from home

• Distributing signup guidelines, user manuals, and FAQs
• Training for using VPN via video conference for workers, especially those in government institutions to improve security of sensitive information
• Workers who work from home have call centres available from 9 am to 6 pm (including at the weekend)

Monitor the daily system

• Monitoring trends in number of subscribers, usage traffic, simultaneous log-ins, and networks e.g. Personal Area Network (PAN), Local Area Network (LAN), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) etc
• Monitoring heavy traffic hours with the highest number of people logged onto the internet simultaneously (between 8 am and 10 am)
• Focused monitoring every 10 minutes

These should be disseminated to workers and to the public to protect people as many services go online. Consider:

1. Using an updated firewall to provide barriers between data and cyberattacks; this should be done at organisational and personal levels
2. Documenting and sharing cybersecurity policies including training, checklists and organisation-specific information
3. Planning security for mobile devices include wearable technology which can include personal information. Ensure security updates and password policies are in place to any mobile device accessing the network.
4. Providing training and education for all employees on risks and how to identify malicious activity i.e. phishing emails
5. Regularly updating employees on protocols and security policy
6. Encouraging changing of passwords every 60-90 days, and the use of complex passwords with combinations of uppercase letters, numbers and symbols
7. Regularly backing up all data and checking the function
8. Installing anti-malware software to mitigate phishing emails
9. Using multifactor identification and virtual private networks (VPNs) to provide an extra layer of protection

In Korea, The Cellular Broadcasting Service enables government agencies to transmit text messages to cell phones through mobile telecom carriers in Korea. This service is particularly useful during an emergency but also builds resilience into the system for the future.

Metropolitan and local governments in Korea are equipped with a system that can send messages to their residents without having to receive approval from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS). This allows them to make their own locally relevant decisions.

Software and cyber experts can only do so much. Informed workers remain the best line of defence, and can ensure the resilience and safety of technical systems for recovery.