From: Human Security Centre
By Sarah de Geest – Research Assistant
***
For the sake of a comprehensive oversight, the problems that arise from our dependency on computers and online networks can broadly be divided in three categories.
- Individuals: encounter problems like identity theft, which can translate to credit card theft – fraud – misrepresentation etc.
- Businesses: Two prominent issues are information theft in general – like client information, information with regards to the company finances, financial strategy etc. OR intellectual property theft more specifically.
- States: worry lies in the contested and rapidly evolving notion of cyberwar, which can include attacks that compromise infrastructure or system hacks that compromise information related to national security, such as: national strategies, information on government personnel, information regarding military capabilities etc.
These categories will be further explored in the article together with question of which organisations or entities would be best suited to regulate these issues. Generally, when it comes to internet and cybersecurity in Europe, a couple of overarching organisations come to mind: European Union (EU), Council of Europe (CoE) and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). The CoE has identified cybercrime as a thread to Rule of Law and holds its cybercrime Octopus Conference 2015[4] on 17-19 June in Strasbourg to discuss common strategies and further define the rights of individuals in cyberspace. The EU has been pushing for a groundbreaking project on cyber security called the Network and Information Security (NIS) directive. Sadly, this directive has been transferred from one council presidency to the next over the past couple of years, with both Italy and Latvia have trying to get the member states to agree on the text, however Ireland and the UK stay sceptical and continue to have doubts. EU insiders suggest that the draft will be passed on to the Luxembourg presidency starting in July.[5]
Leave a Reply