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2. Utilization of digital technology in addressing global sustainability challenges such as climate change and the energy transition

The 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals cover a wide range of areas, including climate change countermeasures, sustainable production and consumption, affordable and clean energy, and the realization of an inclusive society that leaves no one behind. By adopting digital technology globally and accelerating adoption in the global south, we will be able to provide effective solutions to address all of these issues. Above all, digital technology and connectivity will play a key role in attaining climate goals, and in accelerating the rollout of renewable energy, improving energy efficiency, and saving costs for consumers and businesses. G7 countries should work in concert to increase digital inclusion around the globe. The tech industry stands ready to assist the G7 in the implementation of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment.

We are convinced G7 countries should step up work on the alignment of subsidy packages for recovery and resourcing. Subsidies should be aligned between G7 members so that no discrimination takes place and common growth strategies are developed amongst partners.

3. Global dissemination of human-centred AI principles:

The use of AI, including the new generative AI system, is rapidly expanding around the world, and along with other technologies, it is expected to help solve complex social and environmental challenges facing the modern world, advance productivity, and support growth in a wide range of fields. AI drives the worlds economic productivity and growth, supports people in all aspects, including helping to deliver public services, and contributes to the development of mature digital markets. The G7 should share the same understanding of AIs role in building trust and align around core principles.

4. Cyber security to secure trust

With the increase in online services and activities, the digitization of industries, and the increase in connected devices (IoT), the role of cybersecurity has become even more important in providing stable networks. Strong cybersecurity measures that protect systems and data from cyber threats are fundamental to securing the digital economy and consumer trust. From critical infrastructure to consumer device makers, ensuring cyber security has become imperative for all participants in the digital ecosystem. Risk-based cybersecurity is a prerequisite for unlocking the potential of data for economic growth and social good in areas such as healthcare. Yet, each country and region has its own cybersecurity policies and measures (e.g. EUs NIS2, cybersecurity certification scheme and NLF, Japans Cyber/Physical Security Framework (CPSF), and IoT Security Safety Framework (IoT- SSF)), leading to fragmentation and in some cases discrimination against companies from allies countries. G7 members must align on internationally-recognized cybersecurity frameworks, measures, and risk management best practices to ensure interoperability and data flows among the G7 to address cross-border cyber risks that may jeopardize the functioning of our economies and societies.

5. Advancing connectivity for new digitalization opportunities for society (6G)

Secure digitalization comes with great potential to transform industries and our society. It is also vital to achieving sustainability targets. The mobile network platform, as defined by 3GPP for 4G and 5G, is already the primary and most reliable means of internet access and digital services interaction for most of the worlds population and constitutes critical infrastructure for the functioning of society. Still, the future mobile network platform will and must continue to evolve and achieve further advances in e.g., openness, configurability, capacity, security, and reliability needs, to meet the demands of being the communication and digitalization backbone of society.

The Tech7 supports the ambitions to expand the global ecosystem to ensure affordability for the global south, combined with new possibilities for security. Future mobile network platforms can continue to create an unprecedented foundation for a sustainable, secure, and more accessible digital economy for consumers, enterprises, and governments.

G7 members are well positioned to produce ground-breaking research while furthering each others capabilities through increased research cooperation creating mutual benefits toward leadership ambitions in 6G. G7 economies will benefit immensely from global, open 6G standardization efforts founded on WTO/TBT principles for international standards development. The importance of these principles was reconfirmed by G7 in 2021 and 2022.

While initial 6G research is already being performed at national and regional levels, the G7 should work together with global ambition in the following areas:

6. Proactive Cooperation to improve basic and advanced digital skills

In a rapidly changing world, digitization is an issue for all: businesses, governments, and civil society as a whole. Acquisition of basic digital skills at an early age is critical to the future of all countries and their citizens, and a precondition to narrowing the digital divide, by upskilling and reskilling citizens. Advanced digital skills in ICT processes from software development to new information systems design and management, and in several innovative areas, from data security to AI and data analytics/big data, are essential to accelerate adoption and reap the full benefits of new digital solutions. Ensuring that young people have access to online resources to develop digital skills and participate in the global digital ecosystem with their peers is essential to equip this and future generations with essential knowledge and expertise. Collaboration among G7 countries will be critical in affording young people the full opportunities of digitization and ensuring that vulnerable and disadvantaged young people are not excluded.

While policies are already in place at national and regional levels to address the digital skills gap, the G7 should work together globally in the following areas:

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Tech7 Joint Statement: G7 to strive together towards further ... - DigitalEurope

SYDNEY More than 100,000 current and former customers have joined a class-action lawsuit against Australian telco Optus, a subsidiary of Singtel, over a cyber-security breach in 2022 that compromised the data of roughly 1.2 million customers, lawyers said on Friday.

Starting with the Optus breach in September, a spate of cyber attacks on Australias corporate sector has exposed the data of tens of millions of customers online and led the government to set up a new cyber-security body and overhaul rules that the Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security has described as bloody useless.

A claim lodged in the federal court by law firm Slater and Gordon on Friday alleged that Optus breached laws and its own policies by failing to adequately protect customer data and destroy or de-identify former customer data, according to a statement from the firm.

In a statement on Friday, Optus said it has yet to be served with any court documents on the matter. As previously announced, any class action will be vigorously defended, said the telco.

Members in the lawsuit want compensation for the time and money required to replace identity documents and for distress, frustration and disappointment caused by the breach. The statement did not specify an amount.

Claimants include a stalking victim who fears her life has been put in danger, the statement said. Slater and Gordons head of class actions Ben Hardwick said the breach has potentially put vulnerable customers at risk of domestic violence and other crimes.

Very real risks were created by the disclosure of this private information that Optus customers had every right to believe was securely protected by their telecommunications and Internet provider, Mr Hardwick said. REUTERS

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Singtel-owned Optus hit with class-action lawsuit over 2022 cyber ... - The Straits Times

When encountering security practitioners from espionages darker side, I often start the conversation with an initial question: how far inside our critical infrastructure might our adversaries be? And, how far inside theirs do you think we are?

What usually results is a short silence, followed by a swift rhetorical manoeuvre towards another topic.

In reality, the answer to my question might simply be unknown but the fact that experts dont seem willing to engage with the enquiry is important in itself. For example, do the Russians (or other potential adversaries) have the capability to disable our electrical power networks? Can they do this with a click of a mouse and with the same apparent ease with which Russia can turn off gas supplies across Europe?

We live in uncertain times. The war in Ukraine, concerns about Taiwans security and conflicts in the Middle East are evidence of a world thats far from stable or predictable.

In times like these, you dont need to look too far to find headlines speculating on cyber-attacks and their technicalities.

Its reasonable to expect that since the start of Russias war GCHQ, the National Cyber Security Centre, the NSA and other Western cyber-powers have all been sharing knowledge with Ukraine.

Early in the Ukraine war, NBC reported that President Biden had received a menu of options for conducting cyber attacks against Russia. The story stated the attacks would focus on disrupting networks and not harming people. Read past the headline, however, and the story reports that a US government spokesperson described the its given menu of possible cyber attacks as wildly off base and does not reflect what is actually being discussed.

Despite the spokespersons reported rebuttals, its hard to imagine that what NBC described in its story isnt already part of a longstanding strategic cyber response plan.

Russia itself is sure to have utilised, at least in some part, their significant cyberwarfare capabilities to further their intentions in Ukraine. During the 2014 invasion of Crimea Russia amped up its attacks on Ukraine, taking down government sites and social media platforms, and using spyware to track the movements of Ukrainian politicians.

Attacks went as far as physically ripping up fibre-optic cables between the Crimean peninsula and the rest of Ukraine in order to sever communications with Kyiv and give the Russian state media the monopoly on information. But the attacks made during the conflict itself were not the first: for months before the start of the 2014 invasion, Russia had been taking part in strategic cyber-espionage to gather information they could use in advance of their first strike.

Moving to the current war in Ukraine, reports continue to emerge of cyber activities. Some commentators suggest a haphazard approach by Russias cyber forces a theory which seems to line up with the invading states reportedly ineffective overall military approach to date.

Its a fair assumption that Russia will have used their cyber capabilities to assist their military objectives. It is equally fair to assume that Ukraine will have done everything in its power to prevent a Russian cyber-victory. We are unlikely to ever discover the reality of the situation, but some of the initial activity that we have observed include: various Ukrainian Government sites suffering Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, spear-phishing activities taking place in NATO countries and a malware wiper tool erasing data from devices. Pro-Russian hacking groups have also been able to successfully disrupt businesses and government infrastructure in countries backing Ukraine, including in Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Denmark.

The most worrying aspect in the cyber world is that, unlike the Cold War and its nuclear proliferation, there is no dtente - no international agreement or arms control. Additionally, we currently live in the cyber-wild-west where politically motivated cyber attacks arent the sole preserve of nation states. Rather, such attacks can be launched by individuals.

However you describe them patriots or vigilantes these attackers have many potent digital weapons at their disposal. Just how numerous and dangerous these software tools are became clear with the recent Vulkan Files leak: disgruntled by the war in Russia, black-hat hackers leaked a huge trove of data and insights about how Russias offensive cyber activities work.

An attackers actions also have the potential for catastrophic worldwide impact. Even targeted attacks by nation states have the potential to spill over into the rest of the world, as we saw with the Petya/NotPetya ransomware attacks carried out on Ukraine. These spread to organisations across the globe, including Maersk, Mondelez International and the UKs own Reckitt Benckiser.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is often not well-protected, leaving systems such as CCTV cameras vulnerable to attack. Indeed, there have been reports of Russian individuals hacking the dashboard cameras of Ukrainian defence forces, leading to dashcams being banned in parts of the country.

While this is, of course, incredibly dangerous for Ukrainians on the battlefield, other scenarios could see serious impacts for civilians too. Moving our discussion away from the battle field, your smart doorbell, baby monitor and smart watch data could all theoretically be used to paint a picture of your life: what you do, where you go and who you care about. These devices, which often have only basic defences against malware, could all also be used to monitor politicians, civil servants, judges or military personnel and provide hostile states with invaluable intelligence.

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Could the lights go out in Europe? | BCS - BCS