ITU Seeks Global Approach to Combat Cyber Crimes

International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said that no organization or country can work alone to combat cyber crime, primed now as a borderless and very fluid, menace.

The admonition was part of presentation by Mr Brahima Sanou, director, Telecommunication Development Bureau, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) during 2013 World Cybersecurity Conference held in Abuja, recently.

He said to collaborate on tackling the menace; organisations and government of different nations need to acknowledge several new approaches like coming together to solve these issues in a multi-stakeholder way.

Sanou who was represented by Philippe Metzger, his deputy, noted that the Internet itself is has multi-stakeholder approach, as the global threat is ubiquitous and permanent and requires multi-stakeholder solutions.

He said: “Second, we need to adapt and balance our responses and policies to match our needs accordingly. No one size fits all, and no policy or strategy will remain unaltered forever.

 “Third, we wish to see some harmonization of policies between countries to deal with cybersecurity. Regional protection is important since criminals and threats can easily relocate across borders and renew activities.

 “Fourth, governments have a role as both policymakers and drivers for new infrastructures and services that increase their own efficiency and resilience”.

The Director added that ITU has been playing its role in bringing stakeholders from across the globe together, “but it is evident, as I already mentioned, that no single entity can achieve this vision alone.

 “This means working together with other intergovernmental bodies and ensuring active participation by all the stakeholders, including local and regional bodies; the private sector; and civil society organizations”.

Sanou cited that good progress is being made with big countries like China, Russia and the USA realizing the importance of dialogue and the European Union (EU) establishing a framework on cybersecurity endorsed by all EU Member States.

Also, with the new International Telecommunication Regulations, the ITRs, containing a specific provision that also aims at international cooperation on security and robustness of networks, ITU said such is a right step in a right direction.

Sanou added that concerted efforts have also been made with initiatives such as ITU-IMPACT and Child Online Protection, and the ITU-EC project supporting the harmonization of ICT policies in sub-Saharan Africa.

 “ITU-IMPACT is the world’s first comprehensive alliance against cyber threats which brings together governments, academia and industry experts to enhance the global community’s capabilities in dealing with cyber threats. It has now been formally endorsed by – and is offering services to – 145 countries.

“Child Online Protection – or COP, for its part, is an international collaborative network for action, with a growing number of partners, to promote the online protection of children worldwide. COP provides guidance on safe online behaviour in conjunction with other UN agencies and partners, and has already reached a very wide audience.

“With a focus on regional harmonization in mind for policymaking, ITU has been encouraging regional initiatives such as HIPSSA, the Support for Harmonization of ICT Policies in Sub Saharan Africa. HIPSSA includes as a major emphasis on recognizing and legislating against cybercrime,” he maintained.

However, Sanou said that member of  the ITU BDT are delighted to see Nigeria moving fast and in a very effective manner as a regional hub on cybersecurity, as well as investing resources in securing the online space for all citizens, including in particular the youth generation.