Paul MacGregor calls on organisations to take action at NATO
conference on cyber security
10 November 2011 – VEGA Consulting Services Ltd
(VEGA) General Manager, Paul MacGregor, has called on organisations
to invest in combatting cyber security, during a speech at NATO’s
high-level Security & Defence Agenda Conference about Cyber
Security, held in Brussels yesterday.
MacGregor was speaking on a panel alongside
keynote speaker EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia
Malmström, at the conference which was hosted for European
bureaucrats in an effort to raise awareness of the key cyber
security issues and the co-operation mechanisms already in place
and urgently needed.
Other panel speakers included Senior
Civilian Representative of the Secretary of Defense in Europe &
Defense Advisor of the US Ambassador to NATO, Robert G. Bell;
Senior Cyber Security Advisor to the Israeli Prime Minister, Prof.
Isaac Ben-Israel; Director, NATO C3 Staff, Maj. Gen. Patrick
Fermier; Assistant Director of Europol, Troels Oerting; and Senior
IT-Security Consultant, Florian Walther.
Focusing on the need for organisations
around the world to understand the full implications of a
successful cyber attack on their future business – and the
pervasive nature of the threats – MacGregor also suggested that
responses to such threats are available to those ready to
evolve.
“The economic prosperity of the EU and
individual countries is at stake,” said MacGregor. “We need to
invest sufficiently and measure that investment against the value
of the assets that we have in cyber space, rather than the value of
the technology that we use. Currently, it’s like measuring the
value of the treasure chest itself, rather than the treasure
inside.”
He added that “states must take
responsibility for their Cyber Borders and safeguard traffic across
them while remaining accountable in line with Article 19 of the UN
convention on human rights, and freedom of trade. We rightly hold
freight businesses accountable for what they carry across our
borders, so why not ISPs?”
Amongst the other key issues debated at the
conference were the need for effective information-sharing, the
role of the software industry, the multi-dimensional approach to
cyber security, and the balance between resilience and defence.
Further
information
For further information, please contact
Mark Gunning on mark.gunning@vega.co.uk.