ICT4Peace’s Daniel Stauffacher was invited by the Mission of Switzerland to the European Union and the Mission of Switzerland to NATO in Brussels to moderate a high-level panel on “Geopolitics and Cyberspace: current Risks and Challenges” on 30 March 2017 in Brussels. The Swiss ‘Partners in Dialogue’ discussion evening aimed to bring together high-profile decision-makers from Nato and EU as well as Switzerland to deepen the discussion on cyber risks.
Ambassador Christian Meuwly, Head of The Swiss Mission to NATO hosted and introduced the panel discussion. The following experts participated in the discussion:
- Mr. Christian-Marc Liflӓnder, Head of the Cyber Defence Section, Emerging Security Challenges Division (ESC), NATO
- Ms. Heli Tiirmaa-Klaar, Head of Cyber Policy Coordination, European External Action Service
- Ambassador Frank Grütter, Head of the Division for Security Policy, Directorate of Political Affairs, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland
- Dr. Stefanie Frey, Coordinator at the Coordination Unit for the National Strategy for Switzerland’s Protection against Cyber Risks (NCS).
- Dr. Daniel Stauffacher, Founder and President, ICT4Peace Foundation, Switzerland (Moderator).
Inter alia, the following points were discussed during the high-level panel:
- How did the threat situation in the cyber domain develop during the last years
- What are the current main risks in cyberspace and what to expect in the coming years? What are the expected changes to the threat situation? Are we witnessing a cyber arms race? Or, have some threats that we feared, failed to materialise
- What have States done at the national level to mitigate cyber risks? What is the Swiss approach? What is the situation among NATO and EU countries?
- What is the role of regional (security) orgaszations, such as EU, NATO and the OSCE, with respect to cyber security?
- How can cyber risks be mitigated at an international, regional and national level? Are the mandates and roles of regional security organisation complementary or not? How can cross-fertilizing between these approaches be improved?
- How can the UN GGE process on cyber contribute to the stability and security of cyberspace? What has the various UN GGEs achieved so far and what can be further expected? What should be the recommendations of the UN GGE and how should the issue of international norm creation in cyber security and defence be further advanced?
