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Электронное приложение к журналу «Международная жизнь»
Author : D. Tyurin
Director, Inforos News Agency
GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany, has
hosted the 10th international forum "Partnership of State
Authorities, Civil Society and the Business Community
in Ensuring International Information Security."
Every year, the conference in Bavaria, initiated by M.V.
Lomonosov Moscow State University's Institute of In-
formation Security Issues, brings together leading experts
on international cooperation in cyberspace from the
world's leading countries.
The global community today is on the threshold of a real threat, specifically the malicious and hostile
use of information and communication technology (ICT). The war in cyberspace and cyber terror-
ism can lead to accidents at nuclear power plants, the destruction of hydroelectric power plants, ac-
cidents in the transport sector and other infrastructure facilities, with destructive consequences on
par with those caused by weapons of mass destruction. "As the security of entire humankind is at
stake, this problem can only be solved through joint efforts," V. Sherstyuk said.
Ahead of the forum's opening, cyber security issues were addressed at closed Russia-U.S. talks in
Geneva. Their results were actively discussed at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen forum.
According to Western experts, the current norms of international law defining the notions of armed
conflicts and response to aggression are applicable to conflicts in cyberspace and make it possible
to control this new form of warfare.
Russian experts, on the contrary, traditionally stress the inexpediency of applying current norms of
international law to cyberspace and favor a complete ban on the use of cyber weapons.
A working group on information security has been created at the UN on Russia's initiative. "The
group's mandate envisions the formulation of principles of states' responsible behavior in the in-
formation space, a roadmap of rules that will clearly define what may be done and what is considered
harmful. The group is being created under the auspices of the UN First Committee, comprising 25
countries. Their composition is being ascertained. The group will hold its first meeting in August
2016 while in 2017 it will present a report to the UN Secretary-General that will then be submitted
to the UN General Assembly for discussion," Krutskikh said.
In addition to the nonproliferation of cyber weapons and the reduction of the danger of their use,
the forum addressed issues related to the internationalization of the regulation of the Internet,
which is currently under de facto U.S. control, as well as the issues of countering the online prop-
aganda of extremism. The main outcome of the conference, according to Vladimir Sokolov, deputy
director of the M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University's Institute of Information Security Issues,
was an expansion in the scope of discussion and the more active involvement of Western partici-
pants in the "Garmisch process," which opens good prospects for political agreements.
Russia and the West Expand Cyberspace Security Dialogue