With the establishment of an Open-Ended Working Group and a sixth UN Group of Governmental Experts in 2019, the conference was an extraordinary opportunity for diplomats and staff from Permanent Missions and capitals, policy and industry experts and other stakeholders to take a deep dive into the current state of discussions on global cybersecurity policy norms and multilateral efforts to tackle digital security threats.
This year’s theme “Strengthening Global Engagement” helped participants:
- understand how global digital technology and policy developments impact States, economies, industries and security ecosystems;
assess - the risks of cyber threats, and the potential costs of failure to achieve effective international cybersecurity cooperation mechanisms and;
- identify incentives and pathways to be engaged in multilateral and multi-stakeholder cybersecurity policy debates.
19 top experts representing the UN and regional international organizations, private sector, technical community and the academia contributed to the in-depth discussion on strengthening global engagement in cybersecurity policy.
Key issues addressed by the speakers included the impact of the global digital technology development on States, economies, industries and security ecosystems, the risks of mounting cyber threats and the potential costs of failure to agree on effective international cybersecurity cooperation mechanisms – and the incentives for States to engage with the multilateral processes on cybersecurity policy norms, including UN GGE and OEWG on cybersecurity.