United Nations, United States:
The UN Security Council on Tuesday will hold its initial formal public meeting on cybersecurity, addressing the developing threat of hacks to countries’ important infrastructure, an concern Joe Biden not too long ago raised with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
At their summit earlier this month in Geneva, the US president set out red lines for Russia, which is generally accused of getting behind main hacks. In this case, he laid out 16 “untouchable” entities, ranging from the power sector to water distribution.
“This is the generic list of critical infrastructure which every country has,” stated one European ambassador who specializes in cybersecurity.
“In the United Nations first committee, we already have agreed in 2015, which is six years ago, that we are refraining from malicious cyber activities against each other’s critical infrastructures as UN member states,” the diplomat stated.
Tuesday’s meeting, named by Estonia which heads the Council for the month of June and is a leader in the fight against hacking, is itself getting held on the web, at a ministerial level.
The Security Council has addressed the topic in the previous, but only informally, each in public or behind closed doors.
“Innovative Approach”
“It is not something where we can sort of put our head under the sand and say it doesn’t exist,” stated one more diplomat, who also requested anonymity.
“It is a new issue and in the Security Council, as always, it is difficult to bring anything new” right after 76 years of dealing with more standard elements of peace and safety, the official added.
A briefing by Undersecretary General for Disarmament Izumi Nakamitsu is due to open the meeting.
The aim of the videoconference, Estonia stated, is “to contribute to a better understanding of the growing risks stemming from malicious activities in cyberspace and their impact on international peace and security.”
“Cyber is a dual use domain, we are in a complex situation which is not similar to other international security topics,” stated the ambassador.
“So it is not the usual arms control topic where you can sign a treaty and then just verify,” the ambassador added. “You have to have a more innovative approach,” one thing the diplomat stated the meeting would hopefully point to.
Several US businesses, like the laptop group SolarWinds, the Colonial oil pipeline and the international meat giant JBS have not too long ago been targeted by ransomware attacks, exactly where a plan encrypts laptop systems and demands a ransom to unlock them.
The FBI has blamed the attacks on hackers based in Russian territory.
(This story has not been edited by TheSpuzz employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)