At UN, Kazakhstan calls for global cybersecurity treaty to deter hackers

A global pact on information and cybersecurity is vital to deter the increasingly frequent attacks by hackers against governments, businesses and other institutions, the leader of Kazakhstan told the General Assembly’s annual general debate today.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev told the debate’s opening session – held at United Nations Headquarters in New York – that it was worrying that “not a single international convention or multilateral treaty governs information processes.

“Is it not the reason why, in practical terms, most hacker attacks on banks, businesses, government institutions, [the] military and even nuclear facilities have been carried out with impunity?” he asked.

Mr. Nazarbayev stressed the need for what he called “an international legal framework of the global information space.”

He said such a legal framework could be based on the nine elements of a global culture of cybersecurity, which the General Assembly adopted in 2002.

In his speech today the Kazakh President also underlined the importance of greater dialogue between the Islamic world and the West, in a bid to counter Islamophobia and promote harmony between peoples of different religions and ethnicities.

Later, Mr. Nazarbayev held a bilateral meeting with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, with the two officials discussed the security situation in Central Asia and how to strengthen regional cooperation in such areas as counter-terrorism,

Mr. Ban commended Kazakhstan for its leadership on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation issues, according to a read-out of the meeting issued by the Secretary-General’s spokesperson.