On December 9, the 14th international forum “Partnership of state, business and civil society in ensuring international information security” concluded in Moscow. For the first time, the forum was held in Moscow online.
Taking part in the forum were over 120 experts from 12 countries, who made over 60 reports on various aspects of establishing cooperation on countering security threats and use of information and telecommunications technologies by individuals, commercial and nonprofit organizations and the authorities.
The forum participants discussed problems related to the application of international law and implementation of measures to promote trust in the ICT environment, the trend of increasing number of dangerous situations in the ICT environment, and the expansion of international cooperation in ICT.
The forum was opened by President of the National Association of International Information Security Vladislav Sherstyuk who noted that the forum was held in a difficult situation. In addition to the pandemic, it was affected significantly by the current state of international relations. The forum participants held active discussions on problems relating to the application of the international law and the implementation of measures to promote trust in the ICT environment. It was noted that international law and, in particular, the UN Charter are very important for maintaining peace and stability and creating an open, safe, peaceful and accessible ICT environment. International law is the basis for regulating relations in the area of ICT use.
Participants supported the proposal to change the model on how public international law was used, which was brought on by the progressive development of international law and the corresponding development of the international technical regulation system.
In addition, attendees confirmed the importance of expanding cooperation between representatives of the international expert community in the area of countering threats of ICT use for military and political purposes. According to experts, the use of AI technologies, robotics and several other innovations in military-political confrontations are capable of creating real-life disasters that were once considered only science fiction.
Forum participants devoted much attention to problems relating to the establishment of public-private partnerships for ensuring the security of critical infrastructure objects, including those in the credit and finance sphere, as well as the safe use of the ICT environment by commercial companies. It was noted how important it was to discuss current problems in this area with businesses and use the experience accumulated by commercial organizations in ensuring information security.
Forum participants showed great interest in and supported comments made by Rector of the Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Academy Alexander Yakovenko, who proposed to re-visit discussions on Russia’s approaches toward the legal aspects of international information security abroad as well as the activities of Russia’s universities training experts in this area, including those of the highest level.
In his remarks, Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ Andrey Vorobyev focused in part on the Final Report of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace at the 15th Internet Governance Forum (IGF 2020) and the dramatic nature of the report’s first paragraph:
“We have arrived at the end of a 25-year-long period of strategic stability and relative peace between the major powers. Conflicts between states have taken on new forms, and cyber activity is playing a leading role in this new volatile environment. Over the past decade, the number and sophistication of cyberattacks by state and non-state actors has increased, thus threatening the stability of cyberspace. To put it simply, people and organizations can no longer be confident in their ability to use cyberspace safely and reliably, or in the accessibility or integrity of services and information.”
The participants’ increased interest was provoked by the discussion of countering the use of ICT to interfere in countries’ domestic affairs, as well as how these technologies influence people. Experts expressed their interest in the broader discussion of how international law would be applied to ensure that citizens are able to feely express their will during national elections. It was noted how important it was to study ways to counter ICT’s possible impact on the preservation of society’s civilizational values.
Following the forum, Director General of the National Association of International Information Security Anatoly Smirnov spoke of the forum’s significant and positive influence on expanding the expert community’s cooperation in forming an international information security system.
