Countering cyber terrorism in third-world countries
Threats to cyberspace can launch from anywhere in the world. And their effect can be especially devastating to emerging economies in third-world countries.To help counter such threats, the SANS Institute of Bethesda, Md., committed $1 million in time and services for a joint project with the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber-Terrorism (IMPACT) to increase the cyberdefense capacity of developing countries.
The donation, announced at the World Cyber Security Summit (WCSS) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will help provide high-quality security for national cyberinfrastructure and government websites. Instructors will be trained so that member governments can maintain high-capacity cyberdefenses.
Additionally, SANS said it will work with IMPACT and its member countries to create a shared internet early warning system to detect and combat attacks in their early stages and provide timely key information as the attacks potentially spread around the world.
“Everyone on the Internet is connected; weak security anywhere puts all other users at risk,” SANS Institute Research Director Alan Paller told SCMagazineUS.com. “By investing in improving cyber defenses and more secure application programming in the developing world, we hope we are helping to improve security everywhere.”
WCSS is a ministerial-level forum for government ministers, industry leaders, technology gurus and international cybersecurity experts from more than 40 countries.
“This is the largest-ever ministerial gathering on cyberterrorism,” Mohd Noor Amin, chairman of IMPACT'S management board, told SCMagazineUS.com Thursday. “And there was some landmark collaboration at the summit, such as the collaboration with the SANS Institute.”
