Special Issue on Security and Data Protection during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

The severe health, economic, and social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly impacted our daily lives. The evolution of the pandemic, also in view of the recent variants, including Delta and Omicron, may increase the duration and impact of such effects in the coming years. In this context, one of the lessons learned from the current pandemic is our dependence on technology, but also the perception that technological advances are essential to face emerging challenges of virtually any type. Indeed, since the emergence of COVID-19, technology has played a fundamental role in dealing with the pandemic from different perspectives. Initially, the deployment of digital contact tracing frameworks around the world was aimed at promptly detecting people who were in contact with infected individuals to curb the spread of the virus. Then, with the deployment of vaccines, interest in digital COVID certificates for vaccinations, immunity, and testing has led to the development of diverse proposals, such as EUDCC, that are now widely used to allow people to move freely and resume daily activities. Other digital tools based on the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine learning technologies have been considered to monitor the status of infected individuals as well as to identify outbreaks in certain geographic areas. In addition, the use of blockchain technologies has been proposed for the validation of digital COVID certificates, as well as to facilitate the supply chain of vaccines and medical supplies. However, all these efforts pose new security and data protection challenges that need to be addressed, considering not only technical aspects, but also social, legal, and ethical ones. In fact, the management of the pandemic requires global effort based on tight collaboration between institutions, while protecting the rights of citizens through adequate cybersecurity and data protection measures.