Azerbaijan, Baku, May 17 / Trend H. Valiyev /
Azerbaijan together with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is working on the preparation of a new convention on information security, Azerbaijani Communications and IT Minister Ali Abbasov said at the First Republican Scientific-Practical Conference on Information Security in Baku today.
According to the minister, a similar initiative was made by Russia in 2010, but unfortunately, the world community has not made a concrete decision on the issue. There are countries that have made certain amendments to their legislation equating cyber-attacks to a declaration of war. This can lead to fatal consequences.
"Today, information security becomes more important in the world," he said. "The main reason is the global digitisation of all spheres of life. The new electronic infrastructure appears and the main activity of many organisations is based on it. The most developed spheres are telecommunication and mobile networks. Being information infrastructures, they become the target of cyber criminals."
The evolution of television and the transition to digital TV broadcasting also require a careful approach to the reliable information security systems, the minister said.
"According to the statistics, the loss as a result of cyber-crime in the world amounts to approximately $1 trillion which is comparable to the illicit drug trade turnover," minister said. "Approximately about 600,000 people become victims of cyber criminals each year."