While certain cyberattacks focus on specific organizations, the majority target the largest number of internet users possible. Such attacks are often relatively easy for cybercriminals to undertake and can cause serious harm. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, the impact of indiscriminate malicious activity online can be significant and carries an estimated global price tag of $6 trillion in 2021.

The World Economic Forum Platform for Shaping the Future of Cybersecurity and Digital Trust brought together a group of leading ISPs and multilateral organizations to develop new ways to protect and prevent these attacks from reaching consumers. Following a year of development and testing, four actionable principles were identified as successful in preventing malicious activities from getting “down the pipes” to consumers, set out in the report. Each principle is considered from the perspective of the challenges it is seeking to address, as well as providing demonstrable evidence from service providers of the benefits of implementation. Further, more technical detail on how each principle could be implemented is also provided in related recommendations.