Annual InfoSec Meeting at the United Nations

Opening Statement by the President of ECOSOC

Marjatta Rasi
President, United Nations Economic and Social Council, and Permanent Representative and Ambassador Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations

It is my pleasure to welcome all of you on behalf of the United Nations Economic and Social Council to this important event examining information security best practices and solutions. We are particularly happy to welcome the many members of the private sector who are participating today.

I would like to recognize the Association for Information Technologies (AIT) for its ongoing cooperation with the United Nations community, including in the organization of high-level series of meetings, which bring together diplomats, officials and business executives.

We all share a common interest in ensuring that users – governments, businesses, and individuals – have confidence in the security, stability and sustainability of information flows. Without that trust, the full value of ICTs as an enabler of the Millennium Development Goals and a catalyst for social and economic growth can never be realized.

At the recent World Summit on the Information Society, it was affirmed that governments and the private sector must collaborate to build greater confidence in the Internet and improve its security. The WSIS Declaration of Principles calls upon all stakeholders to strengthen the “trust framework” and foster a “global culture of cyber-security.”

Today we will learn more about how we can work together to respond to threats such as spam, hacking, cyber-crime and the misuse of ICTs, and to protect consumers, promote electronic transactions and share good practices in the field of information security and network security. In doing so, it is also vital that we discuss how to best protect valued human rights — especially the rights to privacy and freedom of expression — from being undermined.

This sort of multi-stakeholder dialogue is the hallmark of this meeting’s co-sponsor, the United Nations ICT Task Force. In 2001 the Task Force was launched by the Secretary-General at the request of the Economic and Social Council in order to mobilize information and communication technologies in the service of development. Its members — representing governments, the private sector, civil society, non-profit foundations and multilateral organizations — have focused on leveraging ICT to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. It is very appropriate that it should support this discussion on information security, which is so fundamental to the creation of a sustainable, inclusive Information Society.

We welcome the opportunity to engage in fruitful discussion with the accomplished professionals and academics that will share their knowledge and experience here today. I thank you.