Your Excellency Dr. Hamadoun Toure
Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union
Honorable Ministers And Deputy Ministers
Excellencies
Distinguished Guests
Ladies And Gentlemen

Cyberspace has emerged as the new frontier with immense potential to take us to the next phase of development. Today over 1.5 billion users can access the Internet. According to a recent global survey conducted by The Nielsen Company, over 85 percent of the world’s online population has used the Internet to make a purchase and the IMRWorld Global e-Commerce Index reported that the total value of global online shopping for 2008 is worth 2.7 Billion US dollar.

These numbers will increase, catalyzed by the continuing efforts by governments across the globe to bridge the digital divide and increase Internet adoption by their citizens - many more will join us on the Internet.

We recognize and celebrate the Internet’s influence in enabling, empowering and enriching governments, individuals, businesses and societies; at the same time, we must also not forget the potential dangers that the Internet can pose, if used inappropriately.

Cybersecurity threats are both evolving and increasing in both its numbers and sophistication. Given the global and interconnected nature of the Internet, cybersecurity and cybercrime have implications for both developing and developed countries. No country is an island.

The more connected we are, the more vulnerable we become. Cybersecurity threats may be launched from and to any place in the world. Domestic measures alone may not be adequate as the expertise and skills to counter such negative and destructive acts are dispersed across the globe and found in the hands of government in partnership with the private sector and academia. We believe that without a well-coordinated and combined effort, we will lose the battle against the Cybersecurity threats in this borderless state.

In this respect, we applaud the work done by the ITU on the Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA) as a framework for international cooperation aimed at proposing strategies for solutions to enhance confidence and security in the information society. We believe that we should build on existing national and regional initiatives to avoid duplication of work and encourage collaboration amongst all relevant stakeholders.

As a proof of our commitment towards the cooperation in Cybersecurity areas, Malaysia has approved and disbursed a 13 million US dollar grant to kick-off International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber-Terrorism (IMPACT), a public-private collaborative initiative to address cyber threats. More than half of this initial funding is being utilized by IMPACT to build its secretariat in Malaysia’s high-tech city of Cyberjaya – the heart of MSC Malaysia.

IMPACT‘s physical facilities in Cyberjaya are purpose-designed to allow Impact to undertake its 4 core activities, namely:

• Firstly, global response;
• Secondly, policy, regulatory framework and international co-operation;
• Thirdly, training and skills development; and
• Fourthly, security certification, research & development

We welcome ITU’s decision to house the GCA at IMPACT. IMPACT’s initiatives, such as the Global Response Centre as well as training and skills development, security assurance, research, and international cooperation will be conducted under the auspices of the GCA.

We hope the establishment and success of IMPACT will further increase international cooperation in the ensuring cybersecurity.