Year: 2026
Type: editorial
Abstract: Digital transformation is transforming how organizations deliver services, coordinate activities, and apply information for decision-making (Nijhum et al., 2025). The involvement of platforms, cloud services, and data-oriented applications may enhance efficiency and accessibility; however, they can also generate vulnerabilities, and security lapses can disrupt services and expose sensitive data. The link between data privacy and cybersecurity is bidirectional: Cybersecurity ensures that data and systems are protected from threats, while privacy concerns relate to the type of data collected, how it is used, and what it is disclosed to (Adnan et al., 2025;Dalal, 2023;Saleem et al., 2024). Both need to be taken into account during the design and deployment of digital services.The problems cannot be solved by technical means. Security controls also work well when users understand them, can apply them in real life, and the organization supports them (George et al., 2025). Participation may become less appealing or too hazardous if conditions require too much effort or are poorly communicated. Similarly, awareness campaigns are ineffective where there is no clear responsibility, limited resources or coordination in risk management in institutions. To make digital transformation a reality, one must consider human behavior, system usability, and institutional readiness, and understand that these factors may differ across populations and institutional settings.The articles in the Research Topic 'Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Challenges in Digital Business Transformation' explore these relationships in different intriguing and complementary manners. The collection focuses on human-centered cybersecurity, security knowledge and experience of diverse user communities, employee security behavior in healthcare and resilience in digital government (Khan et al., 2020), (Nasir, Zubair, et al., 2022), (Farooq et al., 2022) and (Nasir, Khan, et al., 2022). It provides a review and framework-oriented discussion, qualitative user research, quantitative behavioral analysis, and a public sector perspective. The collection is not a panacea but contains knowledge about how security practices can satisfy the requirements of users and how they can be incorporated in the organizational context. This Editorial contextualizes the articles presented in this issue and summarizes their relevance to information protection, trust improvement, and sustainable digital transformation.The four articles in this Research Topic examine the human and organizational dimensions of privacy and cybersecurity during digital transformation. They have written about the usability of security controls, diversity-based knowledge of cybersecurity, employee security behaviors in the healthcare sector, and institutional resilience in digital government. They link individual experiences with organizational requirements and emphasize the need to harmonize technological protection with the needs and institutional capacity of the users. Kour et al. (2026) assess cybersecurity through the lens of human factors emphasizing the need for user-centered approaches for enhanced protection. The paper provides a systematic review of the literature published between 2015 and 2025 using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and a questionnaire as methods of research. The results of the study reveal that the frequent change of passwords and multiple authentication factors are the most annoying security measures, whereas biometric login, single sign-on, and automatic updates are the most appealing ones. The authors suggest that human-centric cybersecurity should go beyond the principle of ease of use while focusing on the humantechnology nexus. The study contributes to the topic by providing a conceptual model of humancentric cybersecurity informed by Industry 5.0 philosophy. The model offers a theoretical foundation for achieving secure and sustainable digital ecosystems that are user-friendly.Cardoso (2026) addresses cybersecurity governance in the backdrop of digital transformation and varying levels of technology maturity in the public sector of Brazil. The article sheds light on the emergence of a digital government while also questioning the ability of the health, education, and finance sectors to overcome the digital divide and develop an agile and integrated public ecosystem. Cybersecurity is considered a critical function that supports the uninterrupted operation of interconnected digital systems requiring collective attention rather than being handled by selected agencies at the national level. The author argues that the traditional approach to cybersecurity in public administration focuses too much on incident response and control activities while neglecting the need for continuous improvement, risk assessment, and capability enhancement. The study highlights the role of capacity building in cybersecurity with a focus on workforce training and institutional readiness. The article also emphasizes the role of public technology companies in threat detection, risk governance, and improving operational resilience. Overall, the study contributes to the topic by demonstrating how to build cyber resilience in the context of digital government and public-private partnerships.Kaur and Chahal (2026) focus on cybersecurity knowledge, attitudes, and challenges among various categories of internet users in India. The study utilizes qualitative methods to assess the perspectives of senior secondary students, undergraduate and postgraduate students, senior citizens, and social activists. The researchers used a semi-structured discussion guide and a thematic analysis approach to identify security concerns, human factors, and barriers to effective cybersecurity in five focus group discussions. The results of the study indicate that online transaction security, social media security, low levels of technology literacy, and associated anxiety present the main challenges to cybersecurity in the study sample. The findings also reveal a lack of appreciation of the impact of online activities on personal security and privacy. The study informs the need for targeted cybersecurity awareness campaigns considering the different levels of digital literacy among various categories of internet users. Overall, the article offers important insights into cybersecurity challenges in India and will help the audience understand the need for differentiated cybersecurity education.Alharbi and Alkhalifah (2025) address cybersecurity governance in healthcare considering the human factors in technology adoption among employees in the context of digital transformation. The study is guided by general deterrence and protection motivation theories to reveal the factors that influence employees' intentions and behaviors. The constructs of technology-related deterrence and protection motivation include technological complexity, exploitability, privacy, trust, awareness, and others. A convenience sample of 252 healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia was used to test the proposed framework using structural equation modeling and artificial neural networks. The results of the study indicate that trust, exploitability, awareness, and certainty of punishment have a significant impact on security behaviors, whereas privacy and complexity influence threat appraisal. Projected vulnerability, projected threat, and self-efficacy were found to have no effect on cybersecurity. The article is a significant contribution to the topic because it considers the influence of organizational, technology, and human-related factors on cybersecurity governance. The findings inform the development of awareness programs and cybersecurity governance strategies in healthcare organizations considering employees' intentions and behaviors.These contributions collectively point to the need for the interplay of usable security controls, knowledgeable users, and ready institutions in the context of secure digital transformation. The material links personal experiences to workplace actions and shows how public sector governance can be affected by, and protect against, these risks, indicating the need for proper education, institutional duties, and coordinated risk management to complement technical safeguards. For practitioners, these views call for security to be flexible for the users and context in which it is deployed, along with a focus on privacy and service continuity.Future research should assess whether improvements in security usability, targeted training, and institutional coordination lead to long-term behavioral and protection changes. Longitudinal and cross-sector research could help determine the effectiveness of various practices over time and the transferability of results across populations and organizations. This work builds on the collection by making human needs and institutional readiness key factors in trustworthy digital transformation.
Source: Frontiers in Computer Science
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,418
OpenAlex ID: W7225088400