World must curb cyber terrorism

2008-05-20 19:03

Kuala Lumpur - The world's countries must co-operate more to fight the threat of cyber-terrorism attacks, which could threaten facilities such as nuclear power plants, officials said on Tuesday at an international conference.

Government authorities and technology experts from more than 30 nations made the call at the opening of the meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Information technology has "changed the dynamics of terrorism," said Hamadoun Toure, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, the UN's leading information technology agency.

"The harsh reality is that (information technology) has become a tool for cyber crime and cyber terrorism," Toure said in a speech. "Cyber security must become a cornerstone of every aspect of keeping ourselves, our countries and our world safe."

Delegates came from countries including Australia, Canada, France, India, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand and the US.

Catastrophic consequences

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said cyber attacks could trigger "truly catastrophic consequences" by disrupting systems that control telecommunications networks, emergency services, nuclear power plants or major dams.

"Cyber threats are not something that modern societies and their governments can ignore," the prime minister said. "It is necessary for governments and countries throughout the world to work in concert."

Malaysia will be home to a new centre to be run by the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Terrorism, a project involving both the public and private sectors.

The centre is expected to open by the end of year and will serve as an emergency response, training and resource centre to counter cyber threats.

"The bottom line is the threat is real," said Howard Schmidt, a former US adviser to the White House on cyber security. "It'll be from criminals, it'll be from state-sponsored activity, it'll be from organised crime, so the idea of this is to reduce the vulnerability" of countries.

- AP