Statement by Representative of the Russian Federation Ms.Irina Tyazhlova at the Sixth session of the UN Open-Ended Working Group on security of and in the use of ICTs 2021-2025 under agenda item "Сapacity-building"
Mr. Chair,
We assume that the activities of the Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) in the area of capacity-building should result in practice-oriented recommendations and proposals for assistance programs. It is important to ensure that such measures meet the needs of States and are in line with the universal principles in this field, as set out in the annex to the second report of the Group, primarily, respect for state sovereignty.
Our country pays increased attention to capacity-building. This issue holds a prominent place in the annual Russian draft UNGA resolution on international information security, which aims the OEWG at developing specific mechanisms to meet the needs of States in this regard, including financial ones.
In our national capacity, we focus on personnel training in the field of information security. Foreign students from countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America study at the Russian universities under the main programs of higher education and additional professional education. Specialties include information and computer security, methods of detecting and countering network computer attacks in open information systems, methods and techniques for protecting information from unauthorized access, collecting open source data, combating crimes in the field of computer information, techniques for investigating crimes with the use of ICTs and international cooperation in this area, computer forensics, countering telephone fraud, countering the use of ICTs and international postal services in drug trafficking and theft of funds, identification and investigation of illegal transactions using digital assets, including cryptocurrencies and their use for terrorist financing. We are ready to accept relevant applications from interested foreign partners.
As part of the implementation of bilateral agreements and cooperation programs signed with the competent authorities of countries abroad, expert training courses, round tables, working meetings with foreign partners are held in order to exchange best practices on information security and combating crime in the field of ICTs, as well as information on relevant national legislation.
We are increasing our efforts in regional formats. In 2023, we conducted a series of educational events with partners in the CIS on the prevention, detection and investigation of crimes with the use of ICTs. At the ASEAN Regional Forum on Security we hold annual seminars on terminology in the use of ICTs and combatting information crime. We organized online meetings within the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) on secure development of the Internet and digital forensics, as well as a training course on investigating crimes in the field of theft of funds with the use of ICTs. We are planning to increase cooperation with partners in various regional formats, taking into account the growing interest towards our experience.
From our perspective, it is important to involve other interested parties, in particular business, academia and non-governmental organizations, in capacity-building efforts. No doubt that such assistance should be carried out strictly on a non-discriminatory and impartial basis. Capacity-building should not be used to lobby the interests of individual companies/groups of companies, as well as for “hooking” the least developed countries on technologies. It is necessary to ensure that non-state actors strictly comply with the laws of the countries in which they operate. This includes the need to interact with national regulators.
Thank you for attention.
