"Task is to regain trust..." Swiss Minister Benedikt Wechsler on strengthening cybersecurity

New Delhi [India], October 29 : At a time when the entire world is under severe stress due to disturbing political orders and game-changing new technologies, the most important task is to regain trust and security as strengthened cybersecurity level in today's digital world is the need of the hour, said Head of Division for Digitalisation of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, Benedikt Wechsler, during his address on cyber and digital issues at the CYFY 2022 on Friday.
"Indeed, when the international system and national political orders are under severe stress as well as game-changing new technologies appear at the same time, the most important task is to regain trust and security. We have to kick start a virtuous circle of digital trust, strengthening higher cybersecurity levels and promoting again, trust in the digital world," Wechsler said during the address.
He further emphasised that it is high time to come to a point in computing power and engineering where we redefine our relationship between machines and think of new forms of governance.
Asserting the importance of digital security, the Swiss Minister said that everyone should work to find a more prolific equilibrium between existing ethical frameworks like Human Rights and innovation.
"When the Swiss Federal Technical Institute EPFL in those almonds, the researchers wanted to test drones on their campus," he said while giving an example and added that they had no idea whether or not this was allowed within the existing regulatory framework.
"It posed questions in terms of security and data protection when they visited the regulatory body and bird, they still have no specific guidelines for drones," he said.
"The digital trust label developed by the Swiss Digital Initiative aims to advance practice-oriented efforts in the digital age companies such as with three labels their services, which ensures security, data protection, reliability and fair user interaction in different," Benedikt Wechsler added while highlighting the Swiss initiatives to ensure security in an ever-changing digital world of today.
A three-day conference organized by ORF here in the national capital to discuss technology, security and society commenced on Wednesday.
Over three days, over 28-panel discussions, including 150 speakers and Q&A sessions from 37 countries, are being held during the conference called CyFy 2022.
Fighting cybercrimes can be complex, often involving multiple jurisdictions, and international cooperation is, therefore, essential for ensuring and promoting safe, secure cyberspace. "We have a total of three days sessions in which we discussed under the theme of 'Conform or cancel', over the course of nearly 50 sessions, to examine the narratives and currents marking our relationship as individuals, communities, states and enterprises with new emerging technologies," organiser ORF said.
"Cybercrime today is a major threat not only to the private sector and individuals but also to the government and the country as a whole. State-sponsored attacks are expected to increase as we move into 2022, with attacks on the critical infrastructure of particular concern."
India alone witnessed an 11.8 per cent increase in cases of cybercrime in 2020.
"Similarly, in the EU too, cyber-attacks have continued to intensify both in terms of vectors and numbers, and also in terms of their impact," it added.