On Thursday 19 July 2007, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and the Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP) co-hosted a panel discussion on: “NATO – Cyber-Crime and Cyber-Security”.
The recent cyber-attacks on Estonia heighten the possibility of computers being deployed as weapons to disrupt economic activity and the provision of basic government services. The coordinated nature of the attack and the spectre that it raised of the possibility of an Al Qaeda-type group replicating it, present security planners with a new threat paradigm. This new threat can come in many different formats, from state directed, to non-state sabotage, to industry facing new forms of robbery. The complexity of a security space that spans both the real and virtual worlds suggests that for NATO to play a role in this field, it might have to adapt yet again – how is the Alliance to face and prepare for this new threat?
In order to address this highly complex issue from a number of different angles, the IISS and YPFP, with the generous support of the NATO Public Diplomacy Division, have come together to host a panel discussion exploring what role NATO might play in facing this growing and complex menace.
Moderated by Mr Gordon Corera, Security Correspondent for the BBC, the panel will include:
- Mr Brian Bottesini, Senior Systems Engineer, Information Assurance Team, NATO C3 Agency
- Mr Nigel Inkster, CMG, Director of Transnational Threats and Political Risk at IISS and former Assistant Chief at SIS
- Mr Gerald McQuaid, of Special Requirements at Vodafone
- Mr Mihkel Tammet, Director of Communications and IT at the Estonian Ministry of Defence, and a cyber-security expert from the financial sector here in London to each talk in some detail about how industry and government are specifically addressing the issue from their different perspectives.
