IGF 2021 Open Forum #44 Digital Cyber risk Management at The Age of Covid-19

Time
Wednesday, 8th December, 2021 (14:00 UTC) - Wednesday, 8th December, 2021 (15:00 UTC)
Room
Ballroom B

Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min

Description

The world has been living through the pandemic for more than a year now, with the COVID-19virus shaking economies and societies in every single corner of the globe. But while the pandemic had made it perfectly clear how vulnerable we are to biological threats, it seems that in the digital sphere, similar risks are effectively being overlooked. With organizations and businesses rapidly deploying remote systems and networks to support staff working from home, they are increasing what is known as "digital attack surface". They have more connections in and out of the organization, thus enabling more potential infiltration into the organization. In a nutshell, with digital transformation, inevitably comes cyber risk.

This seems like an obvious statement which, theoretically, would create a clear call for action both domestically and internationally.

In reality though, we had been witnessing two worrisome trends: 1. digitization efforts at the domestic level are not always necessarily comprehensive in terms of cyber risk management. 2. Any domestic effort, not accompanied by a global cross border cooperation, will likely prove to be in effective.

The aim of this session is to share the challenges of rapid digital transformation that governments as well as private sector have been dealing with, and move forward beyond the domestic challenges and explore how can we work together to straighten cross boarder digital security based on shared values, common language and trust.

Some of the topics which will be addressed: 1. What are the cyber risk related issues faced by different jurisdictions? 2. What international efforts are shaping up to address the risks posed by accelerated digitization? 3. Which novel frameworks and collaborations need to emerge to address such risks?

Our plan is to have only Online Session. If needed we will have two moderators: one for the online audience, and one for the on-site participants. This will help curate questions and participation from both audiences. In addition, We are planning to use an array of online tools, such as a dynamic, real-time, survey, in order to receive inputs on relevant issues, as well as offer benchmarks to participants from various geographies.

Organizers

Government of Israel
Israel National Cyber Directorate

  • Reut Yamen - Legal Advisor, Israel National Cyber Directorate, Israel
  • Amit Ashkenazi - Head of Legal Department, Israel National Cyber Directorate, Israel
Speakers

Stepanik Pavel - Head of Governmental Agenda and Legislation Unit, NUKIB, Czech National Cyber and Information Security Agency Czech Republic

Robert Kosla - Director Cyber Security Department, Warszawa

Dr. Bushra AlBlooshi - Head, Research and Innovation, Dubai Electronic Security Center (DESC)

Amit  Ashkenazi - Head of Legal Department, Israel National Cyber Directorate, Israel

Onsite Moderator

TBD

Online Moderator

Limor Shmerling Magazanik, Managing Director, Israel Tech Policy Institute

Rapporteur

INCD - TBD

SDGs

9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
17. Partnerships for the Goals

Targets: This session - with its focus on cyber regulation and international cooperation in the age of COVID - is designed to enhance global macroeconomic stability by ensuring cyber protection through policy coordination. We hope to promote a dialogue which will enhance multi-stakeholder partnerships and will facilitate cyber related knowledge sharing.

Cyber, and cyber defense, are at the core of a reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure. In absence of such protection, human development and to support economic well-being will inevitably be affected. Therefore, we hope this session will significantly increase access to information and communications technology - not through affordable access to the Internet - but through technological and regulatory safeguard supporting the online economy.

Session Time
Wednesday, 8th December, 2021 (14:00 UTC) - Wednesday, 8th December, 2021 (15:00 UTC)
Key Takeaways (* deadline 2 hours after session)

The panellists recognized that cybersecurity is ever more important as a result of Covid 19 hyper-digitalization. They described the importance of having these measures in place to support rapid digital transformation and enabling important social services to function online instead of physically.

Call to Action (* deadline 2 hours after session)

Participants called on promoting cross border collaboration, which will rely on agile policies and interoperability of cybersecurity measures. They stressed that it is ever more important to reduce compliance costs for organizations and suppliers of ICT services, such as cloud computing, and deal with risks in real time.

Session Report (* deadline 26 October) - click on the ? symbol for instructions

The panellists recognized that cybersecurity is ever more important as a result of Covid 19 hyper-
digitalization.
They described the importance of having these measures in place to support rapid digital
transformation and enabling important social services to function online instead of physically.
Policies for cloud migration have become more flexible during Covid because of the dire need. They tend to rely on risk management that includes private cloud or
localization of service for high risk systems or very sensitive data and public cloud including cross border service for lower risk.
Cybersecurity maturity relies on setting the groundwork
– creating and supporting public private collaboration, domestically and internationally.
Emerging innovations in the civic space need to receive regulatory cyber risk mitigation attention from the start.
Cybersecurity requires involvement and support from all professional disciplines, connecting technologists,
managers, policymakers, lawyers and economists. Participants recalled that " cyber" hygiene is important to better prevent the rising ransomware threat, and discussed novel solutions to disrupt ransomware and contain its damages.