Search
AI-powered search, human-powered content.
scroll to top arrow or icon

Highlights from our live conversation on cybersecurity challenges

Highlights from our live conversation on cybersecurity challenges

Cyber is a tool, and sometimes a weapon. Whether used for commercial gain or for attacks on critical infrastructure, actions taken in cyberspace affect you directly. This means that even the most mundane realities of everyday life are vulnerable to hackers.

In our live May 18 event, "Beyond SolarWinds: Securing Cyberspace," we asked our speakers what we can do to safeguard cyberspace from future attacks.

Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media, (above) explains "there are three different levels of cooperation we desperately need to reduce a threat that right now is growing exponentially for our national securities at home." At one level, there needs to be greater coordination between the private and public sectors in the US. It needs to be "much deeper, much more structural, much more efficient" than what we currently have, says Bremmer.


This step requires us to acknowledge that cybersecurity is no longer different from physical security. Technology runs every aspect of our lives now, including our physical infrastructure as the Colonial Pipeline hack so evidently proved. So, with increasing cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, cyber defense needs to become more sophisticated. This requires the tech sector to continue to develop stronger security protection while the public and private sectors simultaneously implement cybersecurity practices across the board, says Brad Smith, president of Microsoft.

Microsoft's Brad Smith on the Pervasive Dangers of Ransomware Attacks | Global Stage | GZERO Mediawww.youtube.com

Jane Harman, President Emerita of the Wilson Center and former ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, notes that "the markers have been here for years about the impact of cyber" on US infrastructure. The SolarWinds and Colonial Pipeline hacks are just incidents in a series of cyberattacks that further emphasize how sophisticated hackers are, and how unprepared the US has become.

Harman added that the US specifically bungled its response to the SolarWinds hack because a private firm found out first. That's why Biden's executive order mandating private firms in business with the US government to immediately report such cyberattacks is a good first step, but it needs to be more robust. The private sector as a whole needs to coordinate better with the US government. Executive orders are "not enough" to tackle one of the United States' most difficult problems.

Biden's Executive Orders Are “Not Enough," Says Jane Harman | Global Stage | GZERO Mediawww.youtube.com

Greater coordination between the US and its transatlantic allies is the second level of cooperation we need to reduce the cybersecurity threat. But mistrust, which is both deep and structural, is standing in the way.

"Trust is the currency of diplomacy", according to Wolfgang Ischinger, chairman of the Munich Security Conference. In its absence, the US and its allies have a serious obstacle standing in their way when it comes to issues like global cybersecurity cooperation. "Europeans across the board, don't even trust their own governments" or companies let alone the US government and American companies, says Ischinger. "But the really worrisome thing is that [Europeans] mistrust Americans almost as much, … as they mistrust the Chinese."

Wolfgang Ischinger: "Europeans Don't Even Trust Their Own Governments" | Global Stage | GZERO Mediawww.youtube.com

That is why rebuilding trust across the Atlantic is an important part of the way forward for cybersecurity, says Smith. It may be hard for people, including the United States government, to fully understand the impact the current lack of trust has on cybersecurity. But there needs to be greater transparency between countries that intend to work together to combat growing waves of distrust. Transparency "is central to everything else we need to do together to address the cybersecurity threats we're seeing around the world," says Smith.

Microsoft's Brad Smith on Actions Needed to Build Cyber Trust | Global Stage | GZERO Mediawww.youtube.com

Lastly, we must seek a broader level of global coordination and trust, says Bremmer. "While we all recognize we need that, we are right now heading in the opposite direction."

However, there is some hope on the horizon as we are becoming more away of this crisis. "It is moving up in the league of tables in terms of major policymakers around the world understanding that this is a real threat" we need to address. This leads Bremmer to feel fairly confident in the resources that will be devoted to global cybersecurity cooperation over the next five years.

"Beyond SolarWinds: Securing Cyberspace," a Global Stage live conversation on cyber challenges facing governments, companies, and citizens, was recorded on May 18, 2021. It's presented by GZERO Media and Microsoft, and held in collaboration with the Munich Security Conference as part of their "Road to Munich" series.

More from Global Stage

Can we use AI to secure the world's digital future?

Can we use AI to secure the world's digital future?

How do we ensure AI is safe, available to everyone, and enhancing productivity? It’s a big topic at this year’s UN General Assembly. That’s why GZERO’s Global Stage livestream brought together leading experts at the heart of the action for “Live from the United Nations: Securing our Digital Future,” an event produced in partnership between the Complex Risk Analytics Fund, or CRAF’d, and GZERO Media’s Global Stage series, sponsored by Microsoft.

How can we produce more food for the world, sustainably?

How can we produce more food for the world, sustainably?

Could the hottest job of the future be...farming? In the next decade, 1.2 billion people globally will age into the labor force, but there will not be enough existing jobs waiting for them.

The gap between Americans' perception of the economy and reality

The gap between Americans' perception of the economy and reality

As the candidates make their final arguments in the 2024 US Presidential Election, the economy is front and center on the minds of voters. Despite all signs indicating stable and above-trend growth in the US, many Americans feel uncertain about how well the economy is doing, said Robert Kahn, Managing Director of Global Macro-Geoeconomics at Eurasia Group.

How to protect elections in the age of AI

How to protect elections in the age of AI

GZERO Media, on the ground at the 2024 Munich Security Conference, held a Global Stage discussion on Feb. 17 entitled “Protecting Elections in the Age of AI.” We spoke with Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft; Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media; Fiona Hill, senior fellow for the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings; Eva Maydell, an EU parliamentarian and a lead negotiator of the EU Chips Act and Artificial Intelligence Act; Kersti Kaljulaid, the former president of Estonia; with European correspondent Maria Tadeo moderating. These thought leaders and experts discussed the implications of the rapid rise of AI amid this historic election year.

Hot topics at the IMF-World Bank meetings

Hot topics at the IMF-World Bank meetings

Delegates at the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings have been giving rosy outlooks to the press while the cameras are rolling, but GZERO Senior Writer Matthew Kendrick heard a different story in private settings. He told Tony Maciulis that the global outlook depends heavily on US policy continuity — which is highly unlikely under a second Trump administration — and successful efforts in China to revive its own floundering economy.

Can we achieve gender equality by 2030?

Can we achieve gender equality by 2030?

This week World Bank announced a bold initiative to bridge the gender divide by creating more economic opportunity, broadening female leadership, and reducing gender-based violence in the next 5 years as 2030 approaches.