Digital Trust: World's first digital responsibility label launched
For more corporate responsibility in the digital world: Swiss Digital Initiative launches the Digital Trust Label, the world's first quality seal for digital responsibility. This enables users to better recognize trustworthy digital services.
Awareness of digital risks and the demand for greater digital transparency and reliability are steadily increasing. Digital responsibility and digital trust are among the new requirements for companies to remain competitive. The market leaders of the future are organizations that actively assume digital responsibility. They put theoretical principles and principles into practice. This should be recognizable to users by means of a seal of approval. On the other hand, providers of digital applications can use the Digital Trust Label to declare their digital responsibility systematically and credibly.
The Digital Trust Label was developed in Switzerland with a special emphasis on the user perspective. Thanks to the participatory and inclusive approach, a label was created that offers organizations the unique opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to digital responsibility. It was developed in the November 2021 presented to the public. Now it is definitely launched.
A clear commitment to digital responsibility
The Digital Trust Label shows the trustworthiness of a digital application, such as a website or app, in clear, visual, and non-technical language that anyone can understand. "Similar to the organic label and the nutritional value table for the analog world, the Digital Trust Label serves as a trust mark in the digital world", explains Doris Leuthard, President of the Swiss Digital Initiative Foundation.
The digital applications are tested against 35 criteria in four dimensions: Security, Privacy, Reliability, and Fairness to users, which includes information about the use of automated decision-making processes. The set of criteria was created by a special Label Expert Committee led by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) and further developed based on feedback from several public consultations. The criteria developed serve as the basis for an independent review.
Swiss Re and Swisscom are the first Digital Trust Champions
The first Digital Trust Champions include Swiss Re and Swisscom, which have already gone through the auditing process for a Digital Trust Label and are allowed to use the label for the audited services. Credit Suisse is currently in the auditing process. Another seven companies have already registered for the labeling process and will begin the audit in early 2022: Atos, Booking.com, Cisco, Credit Exchange, Kudelski IoT, UBS Switzerland AG and wefox. "Financial services require greater trust in digital services more than ever. We support and believe in the Digital Trust Label as a driver for greater transparency and accountability," said Moses Ojeisekhoba, Chief Executive Officer Reinsurance and member of the Group Executive Board of Swiss Re. Urs Schaeppi, CEO of Swisscom adds: "The digital world is fast and easy, but also anonymous. Which digital services can I rely on, which provider can I trust, are the questions that are critical to success. Swisscom supports the Digital Trust Label and the underlying independent audit process because it creates transparency and builds trust in the digital world."
Radiation across industry and national borders
The topic of digital trust is also relevant for the banking sector. André Helfenstein Chief Executive Officer Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Ltd.: "Client trust and security are natural cornerstones of Swiss banking and this also applies in the digital world. Credit Suisse supports the piloting of the Digital Trust Label as it increases transparency regarding data flows and security in digital processes."
The Digital Trust Label sees itself as an example of a practical contribution to bring Swiss traditions and values into the digital world and serves as a starting point for a global movement towards digital responsibility. "There is no better place than Geneva to pioneer and test new tools for digital trust and responsibility. A label can be a way to bring together international stakeholders working on this issue and build global consensus," says Benedikt Wechsler, ambassador and head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs' Digitization Division.
Source: Swiss Digital Initiative. More information about the Digital Trust Label
