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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres highlighted the importance of ensuring cyber safety on June 20, 2024.
In a high-level debate organised at the United Nations Security Council, Guterres stated that digital empowerment can also compromise the safety of people and organisations.
The UN Security Council’s high-level debate explored the safety of cyberspace in an event titled Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Addressing Evolving Threats in Cyberspace. The event, a gathering of UNSC members, was held in New York City.
“Digital advances are revolutionising economies and societies. They are bringing people together. Delivering information, news, knowledge, and education at the tap of a screen or click of a mouse,” Guterres said.
“But the very quality of seamless, instant connectivity that powers the enormous benefits of cyberspace can also leave people, institutions and entire countries deeply vulnerable. And the perils of weaponising digital technologies are growing by the year,” the UN chief added.
Guterres also took note of the contemporary security situation across the globe. He mentioned that challenges, which were unheard of until now, had surfaced in cyberspace.
The UN chief took note of the increasing use of cyberspace as another weapon in ongoing armed conflicts and remarked that so-called civilian ‘hacktivists’ are entering the fray, and are blurring the line between combatants and civilians.
The top most diplomat of the UN said the growing integration of digital tools with weapon systems, including autonomous systems, presents new vulnerabilities.
Talking about the political implications of these technologies, he said malicious activity that undermines public institutions, electoral processes and online integrity erodes trust, fuels tensions, and even sows the seeds of violence and conflict.
“The New Agenda for Peace places prevention at the heart of all peace efforts. It calls for developing strong frameworks in line with international law, human rights and the UN Charter, and focused efforts by all States to prevent the extension and escalation of conflicts within, and through, cyberspace. As reflected in the New Vision for the Rule of Law, the rule of law must exist in the digital sphere as it does in the physical world,” the UN chief commented.