New technological features, policy engagement and public-private partnerships as ways to lower risks of cyber conflicts in focus at Rome conference
ROME, 28 September 2018 - Innovative measures to lower the risks of conflict between states in cyberspace such as emerging technological features, policy engagement, public-private partnerships are the focus of the 2018 OSCE-wide Conference on Cyber/ICT Security taking place in Rome today.
The conference, which opened yesterday with a hands-on scenario-based discussion for senior government officials and their policy and technical advisors, is organized by Italy’s 2018 OSCE Chairmanship with the support of the Transnational Threats Department of the OSCE Secretariat.
More than 170 representatives of the OSCE’s 57 participating States, the OSCE’s Partners for Co-operation, international and non-governmental organizations, academia, as well as representatives of the private sector have gathered to discuss how to mitigate the risks of conflict stemming from the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs).
"This conference is very timely considering how relevant these topics are becoming in the agendas of world leaders. We may not exactly have the same ideas on how to tackle this challenge posed by the digital revolution, but this is actually why it is important to talk about it today and confirm the importance of this Organization," said Guglielmo Picchi, Italy’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, representing the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Italy's Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi, as he opened the conference.
Through the adoption of 16 Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), the OSCE has come to play a unique and pioneering role in reducing the risks of conflict stemming from the use of ICTs.
Currently, a key priority for participating States is the implementation of the CBMs and an Informal Working Group chaired by Ambassador Karoly Dan, Permanent Representative of Hungary to the OSCE, has intensified efforts to operationalize the CBMs.
“Through full implementation of the CBMs, the OSCE will contribute to preventing and resolving conflicts stemming from the use of ICTs and show the way forward for other regional organizations. The OSCE is a shining example for organizations like the ASEAN Regional Forum and the Organization of American States who are facing the same cyber/ICT security challenges and threats,” said Dan.
Oleg Khramov, Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, said: “The OSCE cyber CBMs are practical measures and our future work at the OSCE shall focus on creating conditions for their full implementation to continue reducing the risks of conflict stemming from the use of ICTs.”
Christopher Painter, Former Co-ordinator for Cyber Issues at the United States State Department and Commissioner for the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyber Space, said: “The negotiations of the two sets of the cyber CBMs were ahead of time. With its long and successful history of negotiating and implementing military Confidence and Security Building Measures, the OSCE is the best suited international forum for the full implementation of the cyber CBMs.”
Over the course of the conference, participants will have an opportunity to present their national views on various aspects of national and transnational threats to and in the use of ICTs, and will later discuss desirable goals to strive for that might help to address current international cyber/ICT security challenges.
The conference’s third and final session will focus on enhancing cyber resilience
through public-private partnerships and cover areas such as working with small businesses and start-ups to more effectively improve and retain cyber/ICT security expertise; establishing secondment schemes between national agencies and cyber/ICT security companies; and filling cross-border gaps in cyber/ICT security expertise.
The conference was preceded by a scenario-based discussion on 27 September, which provided national delegations with an opportunity to experience and be actively involved in a simulated, escalating high-impact cyber/ICT security incident.
Each delegation was handed a tablet and asked to choose responses to questions coming up in the scenario. Responses by delegations were anonymized, aggregated and later presented as overall percentages, with the aim of highlighting what participants perceived as effective emergency responses and procedures.
“What better way is there to reduce the risks of possible tensions than to practice the mechanisms that were designed to prevent them?,” asked Rasa Ostrauskaite, Co-ordinator of OSCE Activities to Address Transnational Threats, at the start of yesterday’s discussion. The activity, she added, was “an opportunity for national representatives from policy and technical backgrounds to identify common approaches and whole-of-government responses to a major cyber/ICT security incident. The speed and ability of such cross-sectoral interaction is a core requirement when it comes to effectively applying the CBMs.”