Government Computer News
Major cyberterrorism meeting scheduled
International partnership against cyberterrorism to convene next week
A meeting next week in Malaysia being billed as the largest minister-level summit ever held on cyberterrorism will kick off an international partnership of more than 30 countries to study and respond to high-level cybersecurity threats.
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The International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber-Terrorism (IMPACT) is the brainchild of the prime minister of Malaysia, who saw the need for such an organization during the World Congress of Information Technology in Texas in 2005. Funded by a $30 million startup grant from Malaysia, the organization will hold a World Cyber Security Summit next week in conjunction with the WCIT in Kuala Lumpur.
More than 40 countries have been invited to attend, including Australia, Canada, India, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the United States.
“We still have not received confirmation of which agency will represent the U.S. government,” IMPACT Chairman Mohd Noor Amin said in a conference call announcing the formation of the group.
Amin said President Bush was one of the first world leaders informed of the creation of the organization and that the president was supportive and offered U.S. support.
Although the organization has not yet established a formal membership, its advisory board includes representatives from companies including Symantec, Trend Micro and Kaspersky Labs, in addition to former presidential adviser Howard Schmidt and Internet guru Vint Cerf.
A cooperative international approach to cyberthreats is essential because the threats themselves often are multi- or extra-national. “Typically, governments have approached cybersecurity as a domestic policy issue,” Amin said.
The U.S. National Strategy to Secure Cyber Space, multiple public-private partnerships and regional gatherings such as the G8 meetings are all helpful but inadequate, Schmidt said.
“This gives us a much broader perspective,” he said. “Just having North America or a European country doing their part to secure themselves does not make the world a more secure place.”
IMPACT’s focus will be on cyberterrorism rather than on the entire range of online crime and hacking activities.
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