Problems posed by cyber security have been near the top of the agenda at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) conference in Dubai, with cyber security companies warning that perpetrators include governments.
The World Conference on International Telecommunications ends tomorrow (Friday).
According to ITU secretary general Dr. Hamadoun Toure, cyber security could be a huge problem in the future, hence the need for contingency measures.
He warned that tackling cybercrime must take place with consideration of the tremendous benefits and opportunities offered by the Internet, especially in developing nations.
“We are today living in a cyber world, and we know there are advantages and also there are threats. The good things in cyberspace are much better than the threats, and that is one thing that we have to keep in mind,” he said.
Kaspersky co-founder Eugene Kaspersky told the forum the rate at which malwares are coming up is just too fast for most governments to deal with the threat. He said that despite the evident threat of cybercrime there is as yet no clear definition of what it constitutes.
He said loopholes make it easy to access ‘cyber weapons’ that can even be used for terrorism purposes.
“I think that the worst news is that the difference between cyber weapons and traditional weapons is that cyber weapons are very easy to copy – it is after all, just a piece of code. Think of it like this: it’s like some guys building an A-bomb in their garage,” said Kaspersky.
Responding to a question by Hamadoun on whether there were chances that the world would eventually win the cyber war, he said a world without such threats would be unrealistic, though the worst case scenario would be a situation where the world would be thrown into darkness.
“We’re somewhere in between,” he concluded.
