14 June 2011

We present Valery Tsepkalo’s speech theses for 7-th Eurasia Forum ”International aspects of information safety and information exchange“ which took place June 9-10, 2011 in Moscow (Russian Federation).

Just think about it: every new technology breeds new challenges. There is no way to implement a new technology without facing threats caused by the use of it. 

The same happens in computer safety field. Here actions go inboth directions: ”external“, regulative direction and ”internal“, technological direction. 

The external regulation of Internet has its peculiar features. The main characteristic is to set certain rules in the net but to avoid impinging on freedom. I see at least two challenges here. 

The first one is defining the responsibility for the content developed by users. On the one hand we don’t want to limit everyone’s right to comment upon this or that event. On the other hand we realize that we have to protect the right of those who are being discussed. 

The second challenge lies within the transformation of information safety as mostly state task into individual problem of all of us. In this regard, it’s very interesting what people think of Wikileaks. Someone consider Assange a criminal, some a contemporary Robin Hood.

Nominally we can define two types of cyber threats. We are not taking into consideration military nets threats as they have been defined a while ago and have their own safety means (for example external nets ban). 

1. Infrastructure threat – power stations, transport, financial sector, may lead to physical damage to the economy on a large scale. (Such threats are effectively presented in the movie Die Hard 4.0). 

2. Intellectual property threat – break-in into the data bases of enterprises, banks for the purpose of collecting/steeling information. Or creation of so called ”enemy code“ including logic bombs which can penetrate your software in order to distantly control the system. 
 
I think that one of the main measures on seafety strengthening lies in cooperation between state and private sector. Only private sector can be the source of innovations and inventions. Only private sector is allowed to risk in the development of new programs, products and solutions in computer and other directions of high technologies field. 

It is private sector that develops the main technological elements of computer safety starting from antivirus programs and PC backup products to firewalls and other methods of information safety.

Then goes the technological transfer from the private sector to academia and education and then to the government.

Thus, the main answer to information safety challenges is a human, mental potential strengthening. It can beachieved by preparing a significant amount of qualified experts.

The international adviser of our Hi-Tech Park Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, а great modernizer and the Prime Minister of Malaysia (1981-2003) deeply felt the importance of IT in general and computer safety in particular in the future postindustrial economy and society. He established International Center in Computer Safety field on the basis of Kiberdzhai, the largest IT Park of Asia created on his initiative. This center is the one-of-a-kind in the world. 

We offer to create the same center in Minsk – for Eurasian countries – on the basis of Belarus HTP. For today Belarusian Hi-Tech Park is the only IT-cluster in this region. This is the place where private business, universities and research centers together with other stakeholders representing the government authorities of CIS countries and Central Eurasia could conduct joint developments in the computer safety field and develop solutions to regulate this new area in the life of information society.