As we come to the end of the first day of EU Cyber Forum 2020, it’s very clear from the myriad organisations and participants who have contributed so far that the subject of Cyber, escalated by the effects of COVID19 has now come fairly and squarely into public parlance.
More than ever, in our increasingly digitised world, every citizen must be aware of the importance and impact that Cyber Resilience can have on their lives and with this in mind, there appears to be a genuine thirst for increased cooperation and skills sharing as we as a global society seek to address the significant opportunities and challenges that are ahead for all of us.
HR / VP Josep Borrell gave in an insightful keynote which set the scene for the day as he underlined the challenges of the Geo Political and Security status quos that Cyber operates in. In his speech he proposed that there are two key questions that must be addressed;
‘How can we use the enormous benefits of our digital age in terms of growth, knowledge and freedom? But also how can we protect our model of society from Cyber threats – and support others to do so as well?’
As a project, being constantly in the pursuit of answers to these questions is part of our DNA.
HR / VP Borrell may have raised a smile amongst many audience members from the CERT community, with whom we work very closely, as he aptly described them as the Fire Fighters of the Cyber world, seeking to prevent, yet on many occasions having to extinguish fires in Cyber space.
As a project we were particularly pleased to hear reference made to the MOU between the EU and Dominican Republic, where Cyber4Dev experts have worked to support the Government and CERT Teams to build their technical capacity.
As the sessions commenced we heard from leading experts on the impact that COVID19 has had on the concept of Cyber Resilience and Security. Of particular resonance to our activities was the consensus that the accelerated digitalisation of Government services due to COVID19 places a greater responsibility on all of us to stay alert and take great care with Cyber Hygiene. This has been one of the cornerstones of the Public Awareness work that we have done with colleagues in Sri Lanka, Botswana and in the Americas over the past number of months.
Key points:
- Cyber was elevated at both national and international level from important to vital
- Publics began to understand cyber hygiene as a human issue, not just about computers
- Skills sharing is essential and collaborative networks have prevailed
The afternoon sessions on Preventing Cyber Conflict and Cyber Crime continued to highlight the cross cutting themes of the need for more multi-lateral collaboration, a growing interdependence in Cyber Space set again a geo political landscape that is evermore fractured and importance of technical skills in both public and private organisations.
On Cyber Conflict, the panel debated the huge complexities that diplomats navigate and the hard won agreements that set the frameworks of various global cyber alliances. Their consensus?…
- Rapid change necessitates enhanced co-operation to mitigate risks of conflict
- Disinformation and mistrust are prevalent and requires constant monitoring
- The ecosystems that already exist are robust and should be used to their full potential
The session on Cyber crime again made reference to the COVID19 crisis, with J. Michael Daniel commenting that criminals are essentially ‘using the same stuff’ but with the added advantage of preying on the vulnerabilities of individuals and organisations at a time of global crisis.
Key take aways –
- Capacity Building to challenge Cyber threats at a Government and Organisational level needs to be prioritised.
- The Cyber Security behind digitised services that we all avail of (energy , water, gas) needs to have a robust infrastructure to counter the threat of criminals and to get this, buy in at the highest level of Government is vital.
- Public and private organisations need to continue to build strong networks to leverage their collective strengths.
Thank you to our colleagues at EU Cyber Direct for an informative and thought provoking day.
