Coordination & sharing: China on fast track for integration into global internet security governance

BEIJING, Sept. 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Incidents like the outbreak of blackmailing viruses, the suspension of TSMC's production, the malicious exploitation of health data in Singapore are evidence of the impact of internet security threats on the offline world. At the Internet Security Conference (ISP) held from September 4 to 6, China's internet security experts and practitioners called for global coordination and sharing to offer holistic monitoring and protection of big data as the era of an assured internet security is over while a new era is ushered in.

Life is getting easier as a click of the smartphone screen can send your purchase at the doorstep and a self-driving car can drive you anywhere, but life can get trickier if the data is hijacked and misused by someone.

Qi Xiangdong, co-chairman of ISC and Internet security expert, pointed out that the cybersecurity incidents of the past few years have shown that the protection system of the enterprise, the isolation network, and even the protection system of the strongest security department all "failed", adding that it is not outdated technologies which are to blame. He said that the huge changes in the information architecture, such as artificial intelligence, big data, Internet of Things, blockchain and other new technology applications, have altered the boundaries of the traditional Internet, allowing more connection points, as well as wider exposure to cyber attack and security loopholes.

The latest report from Kaspersky Lab showed that, there were nearly 18,000 malware variants in industrial automation systems in the second half of 2017, of which the energy sector was the biggest victim.

As smart manufacturing becomes one emerging growth engine of the Chinese economy, China's cybersecurity industry is also experiencing explosive growth. Qi Xiangdong estimated that China's internet security market will exceed 100 billion yuan by 2022.

At present, all countries in the world have strengthened legislation over the national security to cope with the threat of emerging cyberterrorism and cybercrime. Brett Williams, the founder of U.S. network security company IronNet Cybersecurity, said that the next decade will be the "crossroads" of global internet security governance. The traditional "attack and defense" approach needs to be changed, and the holistic approach of protection might entail global cooperation, he added.

In Qi Xiangdong's view, all countries are in a community of shared cyber destiny. "To cope with the new challenges, one new solution is to integrate national and global network big data, to monitor and respond to the security situation with a smarter and more holistic dimension, and to give it a 'security brain'. Multi-dimensional collaboration across the globe has become the inevitable trend of internet security development," Qi said.