More than a technical problem, cybersecurity is a political problem, according to Spanish senator JCepeda went outwho is on a tour of Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Mexico to prepare a report on cyberspace security commissioned by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
A few weeks after the hacking of the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) by the Guacamaya group, the senator of the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party (PSOE) and representative of the Interparliamentary Union met with Mexican senators and other authorities, such as the Digital Agency for Public Innovation (ADIP) of Mexico City.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union is an organization that brings together the parliaments and congresses of 177 countries in the world. The IPU, according to Senator Cepeda, serves for parliamentarians to report the work they are doing on a day-to-day basis to comply with the international commitments established in assemblies such as the United Nations.
In interview with The EconomistSenator José Cepeda talks about the reasons for his visit to Mexico, the proposals he makes regarding cybersecurity and his reaction to the exfiltration of 6 terabytes of information to Sedena by a group of hacktivists.
─What are the reasons for your visit to Mexico City?
─I am a member of the International Peace and Security Commission of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which advises the United Nations on fundamental issues. Right now, the Inter-Parliamentary Union has commissioned me to prepare a world report on cybersecurity, because the Secretary General of the United Nations also plans to hold a major World Summit on cybersecurity, at the beginning of the year 2024. So, there are already meetings with representatives of all the countries of the United Nations.
On behalf of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, I am part of the design model for a global cybersecurity structure that provides minimal coverage to many countries that have almost no infrastructure in the matter. I am visiting many countries where there may have been some type of cyber incident and simply what I am doing is sharing with all of them the work we are developing worldwide, to explain what we are seeing in another place in the world.
Something that seems essential to me is that when we talk about cyberattacks, when we talk about cybersecurity, on many occasions we use words that are too technical: “malware”, “ransomware”. We are talking about systems, but to the vast majority of parliamentarians it sounds very distant and precisely, what we want is to explain and do a bit of pedagogy in this regard, because cybersecurity is not a technical problem, it is a political problem. of first order. When there is a cyber attack, the first affected are millions of people who suddenly no longer have public services. In this sense, it is also very important to make parliaments and parliamentarians aware that they have to take steps towards new legislation in their administrations, with specialized units dedicated to this matter.
─ Is your visit to those countries that have already suffered a cyberattack?
─Not necessarily, it is true that there have possibly been countries where there has been a cyber incident, but the truth is that there are daily cyber attacks almost everywhere in the world. This is not a problem that some countries have more vulnerabilities than others. Each one puts the resources at their disposal and some are more conscientious than others. I will give you an example: Mexico is possibly a country that is very aware of the reality of cybercrime and cyberattacks and has had cyberattacks; I mean that regardless of everything, no one is exempt from this happening.
Yesterday, when I had the opportunity to meet with them, I saw that legislators have been advancing legal frameworks for years, I would say. And then we have to recognize, for example, that Mexico also has something very important: an academic structure, with highly specialized technological universities. Therefore, there are top-level engineers. But I am already telling you that it is not a problem of one country, it is a problem of collaboration between all countries.
─You arrive in Mexico at a rather peculiar moment in terms of cybersecurity. Recently, the hacking of the Mexican Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) by the Guacamaya group was announced. How do you see this incident from his position?
─It is one more cyber incident, it is not peculiar, because cybercriminals usually attack critical infrastructures, where there are large amounts of data and we are possibly talking about health systems, security systems, energy systems, but also other systems. such as, for example, those that provide basic and fundamental resources to citizens, such as water.
I think they are formulas that are used in the end to try to put governments in check. Mexico is no exception, it does not have any peculiarities. The attacks it has received from a certain group have been replicated in other countries. I believe that this can be a good example of the importance of trust and international cooperation in this matter.
─Mexican legislators have presented various regulatory proposals on cybersecurity, did they share them with you? What do you think of the Mexican regulation?
─I haven’t been able to go into detail, nor have they provided me with the documentation. The truth is that it was a very endearing meeting. They were explaining to us in detail the steps they are taking and the truth is, I think they are doing an exemplary job.
In fact, they were working with some of the parameters that we are already dealing with, for example, the Council of Europe has made an agreement, the Budapest 2 agreement, where it precisely makes it easier for judges to act even hand in hand with other judges in other countries. I believe that it is a model that can be exported, but several of the Mexican parliamentarians and senators were already working on it.
─In terms of legislation, what is the role of making a budget specifically for cybersecurity?
─All countries, especially after the pandemic, have seen an increase in all digitization projects, not only from the administrations but from the point of view of the daily life of citizens, who have suddenly begun to use a lot plus technology. The government is also increasingly investing in digitization designs in its structures. The recommendation that we give is that, for each project that begins to be defined from the point of view of the digitization of some service, it is necessary to take into account a chapter dedicated especially to cybersecurity and from the budget point of view, we are talking 15 to 20% of all that new project is dedicated exclusively to cybersecurity, that means qualified personnel, that means qualified instruments, that even means professional training. In short, place cybersecurity as one of the fundamental core elements of what is a basic digitization project.
rodrigo.riquelme@eleconomista.mx
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