Overheard from a FinTech Specialist during the talks that it is only in the field of Cybersecurity where plagiarism is allowed. We can copy the cybersecurity plan of others and improve it according to our needs; and after doing so, we can apply it in our own work areas.

My participation in this event addressed the theme: “Strengthening and Enhancing Cybersecurity Cooperation in the ASEAN Region: Towards and Integrated Approach in Addressing Transnational Crime”.

I’m aware that I was invited in this workshop for the reason that I am the co-chairperson, together with New Zealand, for the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM) – Plus Experts’ Working Group (EWG) for Cybersecurity. It is composed of Cybersecurity Subject MatterExperts (SMEs) from respective Defense Departments or Ministries from the ten (10) ASEAN Countries, namely: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, LAO PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam; and the Plus Countries comprising of: Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia and USA. The EWG was only created last year in Laos and it will have a 3-day inaugural meeting this year in Manila starting on the 17th of July, barely three (3) weeks away from now. It has the same intent as the theme for this occasion, “Strengthening and enhancing cybersecurity cooperation”

Before I proceed, I wish to thank the Kingdom and Defense Ministry of Thailand for inviting me today as they celebrate their week for Cybersecurity. Likewise, I wish to thank the speakers and panelists before me for their inputs in the incoming ADMM-Plus EWG for Cybersecurity Meeting that I would be chairing and for prepping me up for the daunting task ahead of me. Moreover in one-way or another, I can also give an advance notice to the member-nations about the incoming event, in case the invitation for its inaugural meeting is taking a while to reach them.

Cybersecurity is now part of the fabric of our daily lives and cybersecurity must always be taken into consideration. For me, most of the hacking incidents are more on social engineering rather than coding. The ISIS in Marawi (I know you are aware of what is happening in my country at this moment), are bringing the fight in the cyberspace (http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/13/17/govt-says-it-will-soon-arrest-terrorists-online-supporter). My country is successful in asking Facebook to block or remove all the accounts sympathizing to the ISIS that are posting pictures of the military locations in Marawi. The very technologies that empower us also produce vulnerabilities while simultaneously empowering those who would disrupt and destroy. Our database systems attract intruders to continuously probe our networks. The rapid pace of technological change has triggered a corresponding leap in exposure to vulnerabilities that can be exploited by cyber criminals.

For the inaugural meeting of the ASEAN EWG, the group will be joining experts who handle cyber policy and who act as coordinator for cyber issues. The EWG will immediately identify the Points-of-Contact for cybersecurity cooperation. The initiative is the creation of communication channels to facilitate international cooperation and also for enhancing international cooperation for law enforcement for cyber crimes. These Points-of-Contact are usually the Cyber Centres that house the Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTS). It is a place for security breach information sharing; and a place with an emergency response coordination capability; and with opportunities for cross-sector and cross-border collaboration. What we want to see in terms of international and diplomatic arrangement for cybersecurity. Cybersecurity is not simply about reacting to threats. For us ASEAN-Plus, cybersecurity is about shaping creative and sustainable combinations of technological and social responses at an international level. With such set-up, we can build better confidence, better transparency, better cooperation and ultimately better stability in the ASEAN Region. The EWG for the Cybersecurity will first develop its capabilities on their own but would later work with other EWGs, for instance with EWG for Maritime Security – may it be in land, sea or air warfare, there is also cyber component and the need for cybersecurity. The cyber set-up is called, “Network Centric”. This is the synchronization of operations with the use of computers and communications networks.

At the later discussions of the EWG for Cybersecurity, the topic will shift on the need for harmonizing legal frameworks, a legal mechanism that is critical in combating cyber criminals and cyber attacks – against the background of competing national legal jurisdiction. I do not wish to go further on this issue. The co-chairperson from New Zealand will be tackling the subject matter in the next ADMM-Plus EWG for cybersecurity meeting in their home country on November this year.