INTERVIEW: As the mobile industry grapples with increasing cybersecurity threats and presses for technology fixes, McAfee CEO Christopher Young (pictured) noted it must also address societal factors which influence the balance between privacy and security.

Young told Mobile World Live tensions exist between the need to deliver good security and privacy considerations, such as what information can be uncovered by law enforcement during an investigation. He said those debates aren’t just about technology fixes, but also about social values and urged the industry to tackle such thorny questions head-on.

“We need to talk about what happens when in order to investigate an issue, a cybersecurity issue, it could potentially put privacy at risk. Or what happens when we raise the standards of privacy through regulation, like GDPR as an example, and how does that put security at risk. What are the right balances and trade-offs we need to make, and when and under what circumstances should those trade-offs be made?”

“You need both. You need good privacy, you need good security, and sometimes you need to actually debate and understand where the touchpoints are so you can make good decisions.”

Click here to see the full interview, including Young’s comments on IoT security and how the industry can address vulnerabilities.