H.E. Urs Bucher, Ambassador of Switzerland to the EU and H.E. Christian Meuwly, Ambassador of Switzerland to the Kingdom of Belgium and Head of the Mission of Switzerland to NATO, cordially invite you to join the evening of discussion

Partners in Dialogue "Geopolitics and cyberspace : current risks and challenges"
on Thursday 30th March 2017 at 6.30 pm
at the Mission of Switzerland to the EU, Place du Luxembourg 1, 1050 Brussels.

Geopolitics has now fully expanded into cyberspace. An increasing number of players, states, state-sponsored and non-state actors are using cyberspace in the competition for supremacy. Risks are diverse and evolving rapidly, incidents with ransomware have increased substantially, espionage and sabotage attacks are now an integral part of the threat landscape. More importantly, cyberspace is being used for disinformation campaigns in order to influence public opinion across societies and thereby creating the potential to shift the dynamics of geopolitical landscape.

As a consequence, an increasing number of states have integrated cybersecurity into their national security and defense strategies. Regional organizations have developed a range of initiatives to increase the stability and security of cyberspace, such as the EU’s cybersecurity strategy and its directive on security of network and information systems. NATO has developed cyber policies to defend the Alliance’s network and has declared cyber as an operational domain at the 2016 Warsaw Summit. At the global level, the UN Group of Governmental Experts on cyber security (UN GGE) is working on developing rules for responsible state behavior.

How has the threat situation in the cyber domain been developing? What are the mains risks currently in cyberspace, and what can we expect in the coming years? How can cyber risks be mitigated at an international, regional and national level? How can the UN GGE process on cyber contribute to the stability and security of cyberspace? And what is the role of regional organizations, such as the EU and NATO regarding cyber security?

Program

18:15  Registration  
 

18:30  Welcome note  H.E. Christian Meuwly, Ambassador of Switzerland to the Kingdom of Belgium and Head of the Mission of Switzerland to NATO
 

Panel discussion  
Christian-Marc Liflӓnder
Head of the Cyber Defence Section, Emerging Security Challenges Division (ESC), NATO

Ambassador Frank Grütter
Head of the Division for Security Policy, Swiss expert at the UN GGE 2016/2017

Heli Tiirmaa-Klaar
Head of Cyber Policy Coordination at the European External Action Service

Dr. Stefanie Frey
Coordinator at the Coordination Unit for the National Strategy for Switzerland’s Protection against Cyber Risks (NCS), Federal IT Steering Unit, Federal Department of Finance (FDF)

Moderator  Ambassador Daniel Stauffacher
Fondation ICT4Peace
 

20:00  Reception  

Registration

To register please reply to partnersindialogue@eda.admin.ch
by Friday 24th March 2017.

Please note that places are limited.