Digital, Cyber and AI
Digital systems, cyber threats and AI models now sit inside the records and decisions of every other system. This programme relates cyber resilience, AI governance, telecommunications and model documentation standards so that a model, a dataset or an incident can be identified, described and verified. Each artefact of these areas carries a UNI (Unique Nexus Identifier).
- Cyber and digital: couples with
financial-and-economic-risk-standards,critical-infrastructure-and-critical-entities,information-integrity-and-trust,cyber-resilience-and-digital-operational-resilience. - AI and autonomous systems: couples with
cyber-and-digital-risk-standards,information-integrity-and-trust,frontier-technology-risk-standards,financial-stability-and-prudential-risk. - Frontier technology: couples with
ai-and-autonomous-systems-risk-standards,cyber-and-digital-risk-standards,biological-hazard-standards,global-catastrophic-and-existential-risk-standards. - Digital, telecom and platforms: couples with
energy-utilities-sector-standards,media-and-information,finance-and-insurance-sector-standards,defence-and-civil-protection. - Cyber resilience and digital operational resilience: couples with
cyber-and-digital-risk-standards,financial-stability-and-prudential-risk,business-continuity-and-resilience,critical-infrastructure-and-critical-entities. - AI governance frameworks alignment: couples with
ai-and-models-standards,pact-for-the-future-alignment,cyber-and-digital-resilience-law-alignment,trust-and-assurance. - Cyber and digital resilience law alignment: couples with
cyber-resilience-and-digital-operational-resilience,software-and-supply-chain-standards,sustainable-finance-and-disclosure-alignment,critical-infrastructure-and-critical-entities. - ITU and digital connectivity: couples with
alerting-and-messaging,wmo-and-hydromet-services,cyber-and-digital-resilience-law-alignment,space-weather-and-timing-risk-standards. - AI, models and agents: couples with
data-standards,identity-and-zero-trust-standards,ai-governance-frameworks-alignment,scenarios-models-and-foresight.
Summary
- Programme
nexustandards.com/digital-ai/ - StatusIn preparation.
- Areas9 · 5 catalogued
- Nexus StandardsNS-0, NS-9, NS-10, NS-11, NS-12, NS-1
- Open standards31
- Data sources19
- Couplings47 with 12 programmes
Area profiles are proposed.
- Areas
- 9
- 5 catalogued, 4 proposed
- Nexus Standards
- 6
- applied across the areas
- Open standards
- 31
- named and linked, never reproduced
- Data sources
- 19
- listed for reference
- UNI
- requested · allocation in progress
- Status
- Proposedin preparation
- Last reviewed
- area profile
Nexus Standards (2026). Digital, Cyber and AI: a programme of the Nexus Standards. Proposed. https://nexustandards.com/digital-ai/. Last reviewed 17 October 2026.
Files include the credits and the licence statement and are generated in the browser; no data is transmitted. Downloads require JavaScript.
The programme at work
Its development and participation, the areas it holds, the standards that apply and the channels to related areas.
Areas of Digital, Cyber and AI
9 areas, each with its tier, registry status, the Nexus Standards it lists, the open standards it references, its data sources and its couplings.
- 01Cyber and digital risk standardsHazard and threat familiesStatus
listed·plannedNexus StandardsNS-0 · NS-9 · NS-10 · NS-11 · NS-12Open standards8Data sources4Couplings4 - 02AI and autonomous systems risk standardsHazard and threat familiesStatus
listed·plannedNexus StandardsNS-0 · NS-10 · NS-11 · NS-12Open standards5Data sources2Couplings4 - 03Frontier technology risk standardsHazard and threat familiesStatus
listed·plannedNexus StandardsNS-0 · NS-10 · NS-11 · NS-12Open standards4Data sources2Couplings4 - 04Digital, telecom and platformsSectors and industriesStatus
listed·plannedNexus StandardsNS-0 · NS-9 · NS-11 · NS-12Open standards6Data sources3Couplings4 - 05Cyber resilience and digital operational resilienceRisk disciplinesStatusproposedNexus StandardsNS-0 · NS-9 · NS-10 · NS-11 · NS-12Open standards6Data sources3Couplings4
- 06AI governance frameworks alignmentFrameworks and mandates alignmentStatusproposedNexus StandardsNS-10 · NS-11 · NS-1Open standards5Data sources2Couplings4
- 07Cyber and digital resilience law alignmentFrameworks and mandates alignmentStatusproposedNexus StandardsNS-10 · NS-11 · NS-9Open standards5Data sources3Couplings4
- 08ITU and digital connectivityMultilateral and institutional technical areasStatusproposedNexus StandardsNS-9 · NS-11Open standards3Data sources2Couplings4
- 09AI, models and agentsCross-cutting capabilitiesStatus
listed·plannedNexus StandardsNS-12 · NS-10 · NS-11Open standards6Data sources3Couplings4
Area index5 of 9 areas have a catalogue entry; the others are proposed, each with a complete expert brief.
Transmission channels to related areas and programmes
The systemic couplings recorded for this context, grouped by transmission mechanism. The bar summarises each mechanism (select one to filter); each entry names the connected area or programme and describes the mechanism.
The interactive view requires JavaScript; the sections below present the same records.
How a shock travels through this system
A system model of this programme built from the registry: 15 hazards, 30 systems, 10 sectors, 12 controls, 19 feeds, 12 indicators. Select the components to include, choose an initiating hazard and run the scenario. Stress propagates through the hazard relations of the Nexus Hazard Standard (NHS-1), the exposure of each system, the recorded couplings and the sectors that carry the loss; adopted standards dampen transmission and live data sources support detection. All parameters are stated assumptions that the reader can adjust; results are illustrative scenario outputs for exercises and training, not forecasts or risk assessments. The Map view places the same run on an example geography, North America, the region of the programme’s context map, with open data: country boundaries, a grid of hexagonal cells and NASA satellite layers for the initiating hazard. The geography serves exercises and training and is not an assessment of that place.
Hazards
- Dam failure
- Sea-ice loss
- Cryptographically relevant quantum computer
- Coastal erosion (set off downstream)
- River flood (set off downstream)
- Flash flood (set off downstream)
- Mass displacement (set off downstream)
- Data breach (set off downstream)
- Mass account takeover (set off downstream)
- Harvest-now, decrypt-later collection (set off downstream)
- Biodiversity loss (set off downstream)
- Widespread power outage (set off downstream)
- Water supply shortfall (set off downstream)
- Arctic winter sea-ice collapse (set off downstream)
- Polar vortex disruption (set off downstream)
Systems and couplings
- Cyber and digital risk standards
- AI and autonomous systems risk standards
- Frontier technology risk standards
- Digital, telecom and platforms
- Cyber resilience and digital operational resilience
- AI governance frameworks alignment
- Cyber and digital resilience law alignment
- ITU and digital connectivity
- AI, models and agents
- Financial and economic risk standards Cascade
- Critical infrastructure and critical entities Cascade
- Information integrity and trust Common driver
- Financial stability and prudential risk Common driver
- Biological hazard standards Common driver
- Global catastrophic and existential risk standards Mechanism
- Energy utilities and grids Coupling
- Media and information Coupling
- Finance, insurance and capital markets Coupling
- Defence and civil protection Coupling
- Business continuity and resilience Mechanism
- Pact for the Future alignment Coupling
- Trust, Verification and Assurance Coupling
- Software and supply chain Coupling
- Sustainable finance and disclosure alignment Coupling
- Alerting and messaging Coupling
- WMO and hydrometeorological services Coupling
- Space weather, spectrum and timing risk standards Coupling
- Data and datasets Coupling
- Identity, authorisation and zero trust Coupling
- Scenarios, models and foresight Coupling
Controls
NS-0Constitution and principlesNS-9Contextual UNIs (deployments, instances, programme instances)NS-10Policies and clauses (machine-readable obligations: definition, binding, evaluation and enforcement)NS-11Verification and monitoring (evidence, attestations, zero-trust conformance observation)NS-12Software, model and AI/ML artefacts (supply chain, model cards, dataset sheets)NS-1The UNI and the artefact catalogue (grammar v0.2: domain, sector, region and environment segments)NRS-H54Hazard family: Signal and platform disruption (NHS-1 cyber.platform)NRS-H94Hazard family: Systemic cyber events (NHS-1 cyber.systemic-cyber)NRS-H120Hazard family: Structural fragility of interconnected systems (NHS-1 sys.fragility)NRS-H93Hazard family: Identity, trust and cryptographic failure (NHS-1 cyber.identity)NRS-H48Hazard family: Utility and communication network outage (NHS-1 infra.utilities)NRS-H60Hazard family: Supply-chain and flow disruption (NHS-1 sys.supply-chain)
Observation
- National Vulnerability Database (CVE enrichment API) (listed for reference)
- Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue (listed for reference)
- OSV open source vulnerability database (listed for reference)
- MITRE ATT&CK knowledge base (STIX 2.1) (listed for reference)
- Our World in Data datasets (listed for reference)
- World Bank Open Data and World Development Indicators API (listed for reference)
- ITU DataHub ICT indicators (listed for reference)
- World Development Indicators (listed for reference)
- WMO Alert Hub and Register of Alerting Authorities (listed for reference)
- OECD.AI national AI policies and initiatives database (listed for reference)
- EUR-Lex Cellar (EU legal acts in machine-readable form) (listed for reference)
- NIST National Vulnerability Database APIs (listed for reference)
- CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue (listed for reference)
- EUR-Lex Cellar (EU legal acts and delegated acts) (listed for reference)
- ITU ICT statistics (listed for reference)
- UN SDG Global Database API (indicators 9.c.1, 17.6.1, 17.8.1) (listed for reference)
- AI Incident Database (listed for reference)
- Hugging Face Hub API (model metadata) (listed for reference)
- OECD.AI policy observatory (listed for reference)
- Proportion of population covered by a mobile network, by technology
- Fixed Internet broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants
- Research and development expenditure as a proportion of GDP
- Researchers per million inhabitants
- Fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, by speed
- Individuals using the Internet (% of population)
- Number of people per 100,000 that are covered by early warning information through local governments or through national dissemination mechanisms
- Legal and regulatory requirements involving AI are understood, managed and documented
- Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management
- Legal measures pillar of the Global Cybersecurity Index
- Mechanisms are in place to inventory AI systems
- Provenance information for training and evaluation data
Example geography
- North America: 243 hexagonal cells
- Night lights tonight, outages (VIIRS Day/Night Band), NASA GIBS
- Surface water through cloud, 30 m (OPERA DSWx-S1 radar), NASA GIBS
- Rain rate, last half hour (IMERG), NASA GIBS
- Vegetation disturbance alerts, 30 m (OPERA DIST-ALERT), NASA GIBS
Couplings, indicators and sources
The couplings with other programmes, the indicators, the references and the data sources the programme draws on.
Couplings with other programmes
47 couplings link the areas of this programme with 12 other programmes, counted in both directions from the area profiles.
| Coupled programme | Couplings | Example mechanism |
|---|---|---|
| Energy and Critical Infrastructure | 9 | Grid control depends on telecom networks and telecom sites depend on grid power and backup fuel, a two-way dependency that turns a single outage into a cascade.Energy utilities and grids to Digital, telecom and platforms |
| Finance, Insurance and the Economy | 7 | Banks depend on critical ICT third parties whose outages are operational-resilience events.Banking to Digital, telecom and platforms |
| Governance, Security and Society | 5 | Common driver: intrusion and influence operations combine in hybrid campaigns.Cyber and digital risk standards to Information integrity and trust |
| Industry, Trade and Supply Chains | 5 | Operational-technology networks and industrial software supply chains carry cyber risk into physical processes.Industry and manufacturing to Digital, telecom and platforms |
| Systemic Risks | 5 | Mechanism: some frontier technologies carry catastrophic tail risk.Frontier technology risk standards to Global catastrophic and existential risk standards |
| Trust, Verification and Assurance | 5 | Risk-tier obligations become NS-10 clauses evaluated by NS-11 attestations in the Trust, Verification and Assurance programme, with INDETERMINATE where evidence is missing.AI governance frameworks alignment to Trust, Verification and Assurance |
| Hazards and Disaster Risk Reduction | 4 | Common driver: GNSS jamming and spoofing are deliberate interference threats.Space weather, spectrum and timing risk standards to Cyber and digital risk standards |
| Early Warning and Anticipatory Action | 2 | ITU-T X.1303 bis specifies CAP 1.2; the alerting area profiles CAP once, citing both OASIS and ITU-T publications.ITU and digital connectivity to Alerting and messaging |
Example geography
Open Earth observation layers for north america, an example geography for digital, cyber and ai. The map provides context only and does not indicate where the standards apply. Layers, dates and credits are shown on the map.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 2
Connected activity
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed
- Source
- VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2) (NASA LAADS DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA LAADS DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite radiance, corrected for moonlight and atmosphere
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-12
- Resolution
- about 500 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite night-time radiance for the date shown; lights are a proxy for electricity use and outages, not a measurement of supply or access.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Estimated
- Source
- Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (NASA SEDAC (CIESIN, Columbia University))
- Provider
- NASA SEDAC (CIESIN, Columbia University)
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- Vintage
- null; Census-based estimate, static (2020)
- Resolution
- about 1 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Census-based estimate of people per square kilometre in 2020, shown as exposure context; not a count of people affected by any hazard.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed
- Source
- VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite image
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-14
- Resolution
- about 250 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite image. Satellite or model raster as the provider publishes it. Clouds, swath gaps and retrieval error leave gaps and noise; values are indicators, not measurements at a place.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom.
Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth.
Loading the latest NASA imagery.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
Connected activity, framed on North America.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
- Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
- NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- Optional layers (3 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates.
- Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
- Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
- True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
Working groups, participation and learning
How to take part, the proposed working groups, the readiness pathways, learning at Risk Academy, the institutions of the network and common questions.
Participation and governance
- 01
Charter a working group
Select an area above, adopt its proposed charter and submit it as a public change record under NS-13; the editors decide with written reasons. Develop a standard.
- 02
Amend an area brief
Propose an amendment to an area profile, citing a peer-reviewed or official source.
- 03
Propose a data source
Propose a source with its provider, licence and delivery path for licence review.
- 04
National participation
Each participating country takes part through its National Nexus Consortium (NNC). The National Standards Council (NSC) decides adoption, adaptation or reference in its jurisdiction, and National Working Groups (NWGs) draft national inputs and run field exercises. Competent national authorities are engaged through official channels.
- 05
Contribute at the issuing body
Contributions to an external standard are made through the issuing body’s own channels; outcomes are reflected here as register changes. Movement and contribution.
Questions and answers
What is the status of Digital, Cyber and AI?
What is the basis of the area briefs?
How are data sources presented?
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium’s quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
- EmailGateway GW-STDSend it from this pageEvidence, a correction, a case, a method, a review, a translation or profile input. It arrives tagged with this page, so the editor who owns it receives it.
- ZenodoOpen depositDeposit it and submit to the communityPublish your own record on Zenodo with your ORCID iD, then submit it to the Reports community there. Curators review it; the DOI stays yours.
- ReportsNexus StandardsSee every way to contributeThe contribution types, how each is reviewed, what credit you receive, the licence and what is never accepted.
Never send personal data, sensitive infrastructure detail or anything you have no right to share. A contribution is reviewed before use; sending it confers no authorship or editorial rights, and sponsorship never buys a finding.
Every figure on this page is indexed: cyber, technology, infrastructure, North America.
The Index is the Consortium’s indexing system for risk data. Every indicator, hazard, series and country profile carries its Nexus Standards identifier, its source and its licence, so what this page shows can be traced, corrected and reused.
- 01 · Sources205 registered sourcesEvery value keeps its source and licence; withheld values are counted.Data and licences
- 02 · Nexus StandardsNIS-1 and NHS-1451 indicators, 905 hazards; every record carries a UNI.Nexus Standards
- 03 · The Index54 series, 195 country profilesComputed on the standards; no value is published until an edition is released.The Global Risks Index
- 04 · This pageDigital, Cyber and AIMaps, figures and feeds read the Index in the context of cyber, technology, infrastructure and North America.Public API
global, sector, strategic, technology, thematicSeries in this context cyber, technology, infrastructure
- GLBGlobal SystemsThe state of interdependent global risk: the twenty domain indices aggregated to the world, the five core systems (water, energy, food, health, biodiversity) and their couplings, the global tail register and the gap…NXS-GRX-AR-000002Infrastructure · Cyber · Technology
- XTEarth observation and space systemsDependency on satellites for navigation, communications and observation; orbital congestion, debris and space-weather exposure.NXS-GRX-AR-000094Space · Technology · Infrastructure
- GSGlobal Cyber and digitalCyber capability and threat exposure, digital dependency, connectivity resilience and the cyber-physical channels into essential services.NXS-GRX-AR-000071Cyber · Technology · Infrastructure
- SRDigital public infrastructureIdentity, payments and data-exchange infrastructure as public goods, and their concentration, cyber and continuity risk.NXS-GRX-AR-000083Cyber · Technology · Infrastructure
Country profiles North America
Every country profile carries the source and licence of each value. Correct a value or reply.
Hazard domains NHS-1
- Space and near-EarthNXS-GRX-AR-000139
- Frontier and exponential technologyNXS-GRX-AR-000146
Geodata and API open
Open layers on an equal-area hexagon grid, shown as densities per km² or as symbols: People · GHSL 2025People · WorldPop 2025Built-up areaPortsAirportsRoadsRailwaysRivers and lake centrelines.
/api/v1/public/grix · https://nexustandards.com/uni/{uni}
Developers · Data · Made with Natural Earth, Public domain; GHSL and WorldPop, CC BY 4.0.
Snapshot of the Index registries pinned 2026-10-23 · 22c6eed. Research and risk-analytics information: not a rating, an official classification, a warning, a benchmark or advice.
Contribute to Digital, Cyber and AI
Institutions and experts are invited to charter a working group, amend an area brief or propose a data source. National participation is organised through each country’s National Nexus Consortium (NNC) and its National Working Groups (NWGs); competent national authorities are engaged through official channels.
Status and use. The Nexus Standards are proposed standards developed through an open process under NS-13 and published for voluntary use; they do not constitute certification, accreditation or regulatory approval, and adoption remains a decision of the Global Standards Council and, in each country, of its National Standards Council. A UNI (Unique Nexus Identifier) identifies an artefact; it does not certify it. Names of standards bodies and their standards belong to their stewards and are used only to identify the documents; no text of an external standard is reproduced here. Nexus Standards is not affiliated with, endorsed by or certified by any standards body named here.
Licences: CC BY 4.0 for standards text, registries, schemas and data; Apache-2.0 for reference code. External standards are cited by name, number and link under their own licences. Third-party data, libraries and fonts keep their own licences: see Third-party notices.