From dial-up modems and binary code to artificial intelligence (AI) and the emerging quantum computing leap, the information and communication technology (ICT) environment is evolving at a pace few could have imagined. With every new capability that unlocks opportunity also comes new avenues for potential misuse. Alongside these technological advancements, States have spent more than two decades discussing how to govern responsible State behaviour in the ICT environment, culminating in the establishment of a new permanent mechanism – the Global Mechanism on ICTs in the context of international security. As governance frameworks struggle to keep pace with the rapidly shifting digital landscape, the need for sustained, coordinated multilateral action has never been more evident.
With the emergence of the internet and a wave of personal computers, the evolution of ICTs that started at the end of the 20th century transformed how people and societies interacted and how information was created, stored and shared. What started as a small military and academic research network expanded into a global web connecting millions of devices and, eventually, billions of people.
Building on this expansion, the subsequent phase of digital development saw the consolidation of search engines, web browsers, and email as core tools for accessing and exchanging information at scale. Alongside these developments, early cyber risks emerged, including malware and basic intrusion techniques disseminated through physical media and early network infrastructures. In the early 2000s, the wider adoption of wireless connectivity and mobile devices further increased the volume, speed and reach of digital communications, expanding digital opportunities while also introducing additional layers of security vulnerabilities.
AI at the heart of today’s security
Keeping up with past technological innovation, the contemporary global cyber threat landscape is undergoing another major shift driven by rapid advances in new and emerging technologies, with significant implications for international peace and security.
UNIDIR’s Insights into Cyberthreats and International Security in 2025 highlighted how these new and emerging technologies are reshaping both offensive and defensive cyber operations. These advancements, especially AI, bring new opportunities but also new multi-dimensional risks and challenges, underscoring that its disruptive potential is no longer theoretical.
The safety and security concerns anticipated in UNIDIR’s Innovations Dialogue 2022 on AI disruption, peace and security have now become immediate and tangible vulnerabilities, expanding attack surfaces and multiplying threat vectors that stakeholders must confront.
To better understand the AI-ICT security nexus, UNIDIR introduced a technical framework showing how AI can influence both perpetrator and defender postures in the ICT environment. However, governance of this nexus does not clearly fit into the five-pillared framework of responsible State behaviour in cyberspace – which comprises of existing and potential threats, voluntary norms, international law, confidence-building measures, and capacity building. This gap warrants further deliberation, including in the UN Global Permanent Mechanism in the context of international security which is a single‑track, and State‑led mechanism operating under the auspices of the United Nations, aimed at promoting an open, secure, stable, accessible, peaceful and interoperable ICT environment. It conducts consultations through substantive plenary sessions, dedicated thematic groups, intersessional meetings, and periodic review conferences.
Where algorithms meet tomorrow
Looking ahead, quantum technology is identified as one of the most transformative technological innovations on the horizon in UNIDIR’s compendium on enabling technologies and international security. The year 2025, designated the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, marked a century since the initial research and development of quantum mechanics.
Despite its century-long history, the full implications of quantum technology remain uncertain. Multi-stakeholder discussions during UNIDIR’s Innovations Dialogue 2024 underscored the need for careful deliberations, structured governance, proactive policy-making, and inclusive capacity building to reduce the quantum divide and manage the emerging quantum arms race.
In this context, UNIDIR’s research on quantum technology, peace and security highlights several major threats to international peace and security, including the potential decryption of sensitive data from critical infrastructure and critical information infrastructure, quantum-enabled intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and the integration of AI models with quantum algorithms.
In the recently concluded second UN Open-Ended Working Group on ICTs in the context of international security, the potential threats emanating from quantum technology were consistently highlighted by Member States.
What’s next for cybersecurity
Since its inception in 2012, UNIDIR’s annual Cyber Stability Conference fosters multistakeholder dialogue to harmonize the policy, legal, technical and diplomatic perspectives on existing and potential cyber threats while exploring ways to enhance cyber resilience through the implementation of the UN Framework of Responsible State Behaviour in Cyberspace.
This year’s conference will reflect on more than two decades of digital evolution and multilateral discussion, while delving into the future trajectory of digital transformation, the cyber threat landscape, and the Global Mechanism emerging out of it. Under the theme “Cyber governance in an era of technological revolution: Past lessons, present realities and future frontiers,” the Cyber Stability Conference 2026 will be held on 4–5 May as part of Geneva Cyber Week. This flagship event is a cornerstone of UNIDIR’s 45-year-long commitment to meaningful collective action towards a more secure world.
