OSCE shares experiences with Organization of American States on how to enhance interstate co-operation, transparency, predictability and stability in cyberspace

The OSCE shared its experiences of how it worked to prepare ground-breaking confidence-building measures to promote peaceful relations in cyberspace at the first meeting of the Organization of American States’ (OAS) working group on co-operation and confidence-building measures (CBMs) in cyberspace in Washington DC on 2 March 2018.

The OAS is working to adopt measures designed to promote cyber stability between states in a process similar to that previously undertaken by the OSCE.

“Regional organizations are ideal platforms to operationalize UN guidance on how to avoid misperceptions over significant cyber incidents that could lead to tensions, since regional organizations were often designed with conflict prevention in mind,” said Ben Hiller, Cyber Security Officer at the OSCE Secretariat’s Transnational Threats Department.

As was done in the OSCE context, each OAS member state will be asked as a first step to determine a national focal point, who will act as a first responder on the policy level should an incident concerning cyber/ICT security threaten relations between states.

“Many states now consider cyber capabilities a legitimate and necessary part of their strategic toolbox alongside diplomacy, economic influence and military might,”  said Hiller. “This requires decision makers to become involved and identify measures to prevent potential fallout from their use.”

The OAS, after the OSCE and the ASEAN Regional Forum, is the third regional organization addressing practical measures to enhance cyber stability between states.

The OSCE’s participation in this meeting is yet another step towards enhancing inter-regional dialogue on cyber/ICT security, following the 2017 Inter-Regional Conference between the OSCE and Asian Partners on Cyber/ICT security, in Seoul, South Korea.