‘Cyber threats can be beaten jointly’
abu dhabi — The challenges of cyber terrorism are now visible worldwide and the devastating effects of terror activities require international cooperation, said Dr Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
“Criminals and terrorist organisations around the world have woken up to the immense opportunities that loosely regulate the Internet or technological systems. And of recent, we have witnessed attacks on universities and healthcare institutions, trying to target systems with important personal data,” said Gargash.
“All these are indications of the sort of dimensions of the threat that we are facing.”
The minister made the comments during his key-note speech at a conference on countering cyber threats posed by terrorists in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
“The challenge for all of us today is working together to enhance our directive response to show greater understanding of the challenges of cyber terrorism which we are facing. We need to devote sufficient time and efforts for these challenges and they can only be addressed collectively.”
Gargash said a lot of critical infrastructure and important data are at stake and people’s dependence on data is affected by terrorists’ activities.
According to the minister, the main objective of this conference is to find a common ground for the implementation of a system of international law and legislations that traces the roots of terrorists in the digital space, in order to initiate a comprehensive international legal framework that criminalises cyber terrorism.
He also noted that the UAE believed in collective action to protect communities and is committed to fight against terrorism.
“To win this battle of ideas, we need to recognise the complexity of the problem and that the nature of the battle varies significantly between different communities, countries and regions,” he said.
“We must use the full range of tools at our disposal and take on the prevalence of extremist ideas that provide the fertile ground for radicalisation and terrorism,” Dr Gargash said.
Dr Jehangir Khan, director of the UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) at the UN Counter Terrorism Centre, said cyberspace provides terrorists with potential targets to attack people — for instance through hacking into important information of governments — and luring young people into terror activities.
“Terrorists use the Internet to organise funds and recruit young people in terror activities,” Khan reminded the delegates.
Terrorists use the Internet to organise funds and recruit young people in terror activities.” Dr Jehangir Khan, director of UN CTITF
He said there was an urgent need to fight terrorism and countries needed to join in this fight as there was no single means in the fight against terror.
“Only through international collaboration can we identity ways to fight terrorism. The recent UN Plans of Action Against Terrorism recommends members to come up with ways including strict legislations to tackle cyber terrorism and the abuse of the Internet by terrorists,” said Khan.
He noted that given the dynamic nature of the cybercrimes, it’s important to come up with ideas on how the Internet can become crime-free.
The UN official also urged nations to invest in youngsters by equipping them with technological knowledge and skills as they can be a valuable asset and great allies in the fight against terrorism.
ismail@khaleejtimes.com