Experts at a UN-backed conference have agreed to jointly take action to combat the constantly evolving and increasingly sophisticated challenges posed by cyber-crime.
"The legal, technical and institutional challenges posed by cyber-threats and cyber-crime are global and far-reaching, and can only be addressed through a coherent strategy taking into account the role of different stakeholders and existing initiatives, within a framework of international cooperation," Hamadoun Touré, Secretary General of the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU), said at the meeting held in Geneva.
This was the first-ever gathering of the High-Level Experts Group for the ITU's Global Cyber-security Agenda, and it drew 60 experts from governments, the private sector, academia, research institutions and regional and international organisations.
"New and emerging threats to cyber-security cannot be solved by any one nation alone," President of Costa Rica and Nobel peace prize laureate Arias Sánchez said in a special address. "There is an urgent need for an international framework, giving us international principles and allowing rapid coordination between countries at the regional and global levels," added Arias, who also serves as the Patron of the Global Cyber-security Agenda.
Participants at the one-day meeting decided that the next steps to be taken to lay the foundation for the anti-cyber-crime agenda are to study five key areas legal measures, technical and procedural measures, organisational structures, capacity building and international cooperation in depth to create a global roadmap to bolster cyber-security.