Future Crises Conference Is Held in Prague

The Future Crises Conference was held in October in Prague as part of the 16th AFCEA International ITTE conference. The conference was devoted to the issues of cybersecurity, defense and crisis management. The program committee, which was composed of prominent experts on security and representatives of important state, academic and private organizations, prepared a rich program with more than 40 presentations and practical demonstrations to inform about trends in cybersecurity, draw attention to the need for broad national and international cooperation and share experience in lifelong education, science and research in new information technology. Experts at the conference discussed how active cyber defenses may integrate with traditional military operations across the spectrum of international conflict as well as how such defenses influence national responses related to deterrence and escalation and how the effects of such operations impact other military missions. They argued that proper deterrence at this level can serve as an essential element of an overall risk-reduction strategy to keep inevitable and unpreventable minor cyber incidents from escalating. The persistent increase in cyberspace activities globally continues to make international dynamics more complex. The cyberspace is highly mobile. Mobility of devices as well as their number and vulnerability make cyberspace very difficult to understand. Experts agreed that the range of attacks and weapons available is very wide. K. Harald Drager, president of the International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS), proposed a three-pronged approach to better prepare the emergency management community to meet these challenges: international education and certification, communication across borders and community engagement. Certain trends, like unconventional and asymmetric conflict with external support, often conducted by nonstate actors, as well as cyber terrorism, have already had been identified and observed for some time. Things that are changing, however, are qualitative parameters of the environment in which these threats occur. It is no longer possible to view the security environment merely as a physical geographical area in which interests of both state and nonstate actors clash. The greatest attention was paid to education in the field of cybersecurity. Experts at the conference discussed that current education approaches are enhanced by a set of actions to improve cybersecurity know-how in the whole of society, and security should be incorporated as a supporting theme that plays throughout the computing curriculum. The most discussed questions were: Who should provide the education in cyber safety? Where and with whom should we start? Who are the relevant stakeholders? What is needed in cyber leadership education? Participation of more than 300 experts from 31 countries underscored the international significance of the conference. Participants included not only representatives of private and academic groups, but also representatives from the public administration, security forces, the military and diplomatic corps.

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