The chair of the United Nations committee on disarmament and international security has said there are no plans to meet with the United States to discuss cyber security, contradicting an earlier report by the New York Times.
Uruguay's Permanent Representative to the UN Jose Cancela told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Friday that a January meeting between his committee and the United States is "not the case."
"I have not received any request by the U.S. delegation," said the chairman. "We didn't have any request about that."
In December, the New York Times reported that the United States agreed in Geneva to discuss cyber warfare and cyber security with representatives from the United Nations committee on disarmament and international security, known within the halls of the UN as the First Committee of the UN General Assembly.
The U.S. Mission to the United Nations did not return a Xinhua request for comment.
If the United States was to meet with the committee on disarmament and international security, it would be the first time as Washington has historically preferred to keep cyber security talks relegated to the UN
committee on economics. The First Committee, which includes all 192 UN member states but lacks the legal teeth of Security Council, deals with the disarmament of conventional and nuclear weapons.
While Cancela noted the importance of cyber security, he said the First Committee has adopted just one resolution regarding the hostile use of
information technologies. From that resolution, which was drafted by Russia, a group of experts began working last year on developing a clearer
understanding of cyber threats.
Cancela said it could be the first step in a long and complex process toward drafting an international treaty that governs the borderless nature of cyber space.
"We are still a bit far from a treaty but there are many delegations which envision it would be a positive thing to have a treaty on cyber security," he said.
A comprehensive and effective international treaty developed under the auspices of the United Nations could quite possibly be the world body's most challenging trial of the 21st century. Any approach would have to take into account the broad nature of the threats, crimes, vulnerabilities and attacks.
But is the UN the best institution to tackle the problem? It is notorious for moving painfully slow and technology has the habit of warping
ahead at light speed. There is no question that a public institution like the UN would be unable to keep pace with technological developments, said
Cancela. Instead, that task would be left to a group of experts, like the one created by the Russian resolution, whose technological knowledge would then be translated into political implications.
But how do countries even begin working together when they are unlikely to share technological know-how with those they suspect of engaging in cyber warfare?
"We have to build confidence," said Cancela. "That's mainly our diplomatic task."
It's a slow process that requires patience but without global cooperation, Cancela says, there are only losers. The increased flow of
information has brought about strong economic growth for developed and developing countries but it has also increased cyber- vulnerability.
Cyber security threats continue to escalate around the world and pose a real risk to countries that have built their military, social and economic infrastructures on computer systems and the Internet.
The time to address the future of cyber security is at a critical juncture. But whether cyber security will fall under the UN's mandate or be left to bilateral and regional agreements is still unclear. Meanwhile, said Cancela, diplomats already have a lot on their plate.
"Within the UN, we deal everyday with many issues ranging from economic, development, human rights, and security," said Cancela. "I would
say that (cyber security) is not a first issue in our day- to-day conversations but it is an important one in the framework of security
concerns."