THE CHIEF Executive Officer of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah has expressed grave concern about the way cyber-crime is causing great harm to states, businesses and individuals on daily basis in the world at large, and stressed the need for robust national cyber security frameworks to tackle the threat from criminals online.
Addressing the second Annual Cyber security Forum in London, Dr. Spio-Garbrah said much as the world risk the cyber domain becoming a fundamental unsafe place to do business, cyber fraud could undermine the enormous benefits the internet offers for boosting global trade and economic development.
Organised by Cabinet Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance in collaboration with CTO, the two-day forum was to provide a platform for member states and the private sector institutions of the commonwealth, to explore the issues surrounding Cyber security. Topics discussed include Security In Mobile Channels, Promoting International Cooperation in Cybersecurity, Security In The Cloud, Blocking Child Abuse Content Online While Preserving Freedom Of Speech, Identity Fraud and Privacy On The Net.
According to the CEO, cyber space has provided anonymity to criminals whose activities recognise no territorial boundaries adding, children in particular, are constantly in danger from rings of depraved pedophiles who work across borders and use the internet to groom innocent children.
While calling for harmonization of national legislation and penalties to ensure that there are no safe havens for criminals to operate, Dr. Spio-Garbrah urged all and sundry to work together on issues such as the collection and preservation of data, mutual legal assistance and extradition to facilitate the investigation of crimes across borders.
He pledged CTO�s readiness to play its role in assisting members to manage the ever-increasing spate of cyber threats to ensure that law abiding citizens access cyberspace.
A Member of UK Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alun Michael said cyber fraud had become a global problem, hence the need for international cooperation in minimizing the impact of cyber threat.
�We need to work in the local, regional and international level to empower the people, industries about the threat of cyber crime.�
In his view, the effective response to cyber threat was awareness creation, education and training of the populace on the need to protect their intellectual property to avoid cyber fraud.
Deputy Director, Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance, Mike St. John-Green suggested for a more focused and valuable debate to address the cyber threat. As a first step, he announced that the British Government intends to host a conference in London later this year to tackle this hitch.
He advocated the need to avoid putting cyber security into its own isolated box, rather �we should try to mainstream the cyber-dimension into our wider approach to international security issues.� That way, he said �we will be taking a comprehensive approach to security.�
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