Mr Chairman,
Mr Secretary General,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, 

In May 2017, the Wannacry ransomeware attacked 150 countries and approximately 220,000 systems; it crippled hospitals, banks and transport systems all over the world.

In November 2017, 3.4 million records were leaked in the Paradise Papers incident.

In March 2018, data of 87 million individuals were affected in the Cambridge Analytica data leak.

Last month, the world woke up to the Facebook security breach which exposed accounts of 50 million users.

The list goes on. Beyond countries, beyond borders.

Cybersecurity incidents have become the norm. This is the world we are living in.

IoTs are being targeted all the time. As we know, any device with wifi capability, can be hacked. Top targets of ransomware cyberattacks are financial services, healthcare and the public sector.

According to one report, cybercrime will cost the world USD6 trillion annually by 2021. The hidden costs of data loss may be far greater.

The question for us all is, what do we, as a Union, have to do to address this? We have put some measures in place. In turn, bad actors get more creative.

We are mindful that it is the ITU members who are responsible for the Internet, which is the engine that drives the global digital economy.

Rolling out infrastructure, improving QOS and affordability, driving transformation. That is a given. However, the more we connect our people, the more incidents there are. Hence, the need for us to do more about these cyber incidents which are increasing by the day.

We need practical, concerted measures to adequately deal with cybersecurity. That is one of the reasons we are here today, to find a way to manage all this, on a global scale.

Malaysia believes that THIS is the platform that can deliver; one that can act swiftly and cohesively for the greater good. We know this better than most. In 2014, when we lost MH 370, we asked the PP-14 for help and the Union came to our assistance, immediately. Today, ALL commercial flights can be tracked IN REAL TIME and we thank you for that.

However, there is a lot more to be done. While we open up a world of possibilities to the world’s citizens, we also have a duty to protect, and that duty is paramount. Malaysia will extend our full cooperation in this. Together, we must make the cyberspace a safe place. 

Mr. Chairman, we congratulate you on your appointment, and thank the government of the United Arab Emirates for hosting this Conference.