Q3/2019 - Munich Security Conference (MSC)

A three-day conference of the “Munich Young Leaders” (MYL) on the eve of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly on 19 and 20 September 2019 in New York had cyber security as its focal topic. Aaron T. Dowd and Anna Maria Dowd, two former alumni of the Munich Young Leaders, drew attention in their article to the fact that the annual damage caused by cyber attacks has exceeded the billion-dollar limit. Cyber attacks, which were launched both by state and non-state actors, had acquired societal significance and the potential to do damage to society in its entirety. Democracies had to defend themselves against this. 90 percent of the networks being managed by private companies, the authors strongly advocate a new type of collaboration at a deeper and broader level between the governments of the NATO states and the private sector. The NATO Industry Cyber Partnership (NICP) and the Cyberspace Operation Center (COC) established by NATO were important steps on this path that must be followed up on, they said^[1].