Israel Hosts Annual OECD Global Forum On Digital Security

The Israel National Cyber Directorate will host the Global Forum on Digital Security for Prosperity, an annual conference run by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), according to an announcement from the Government Press Office. The three-day virtual event, which began on Monday, June 7, will feature more than 40 speakers sharing their expertise with representatives from approximately 60 countries.

The conference is held online this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The conference’s theme this year is “Local Challenges, Global Solutions,” with a particular focus on “Building Cyber Resilience Together in a Post COVID-19 World.” The goal is to provide a forum for countries to work together to strengthen cybersecurity, especially as the pandemic has magnified the increased reliance on technology across the world.

Yigal Unna, Director-General of the Israel National Cyber Directorate, highlighted the importance of countries working together to form a global community to promote digital security when he opened the conference.

“Our national ability to effectively deal with attacks and strengthen defense also largely depends on our ability to remove barriers and work faster between us – between domains, bodies and countries,” Unna said. “It is time to upgrade cooperation – beyond the bilateral collaborations that currently exist between countries and make them multinational. Cyber​​ defense is done as a community,” he said.

Each day of the conference will have its own theme as part of this overarching goal. The first day will consider how to strengthen markets for greater resilience, through both new policy and cyber insurance initiatives. The second day will question whether digital risk management practices can keep up with the rapid pace of digitalization, along with how to enhance cyber resilience in the private sector, to determine how organizations can become more secure. The third day will explore how the global community can create a common language for future dialogue about cyber resilience and how the OECD can help accomplish this goal.

There will be eight total sessions at this year’s conference, with topics ranging from supply chain security to cyber insurance. Notable speakers include Unna; Mathias Cormann, OECD Secretary-General; Alon Ushpiz, Director-General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and H.E. Dr. Mohamed Al-Kuwaiti, Head of Cybersecurity for the United Arab Emirates.

This is the third year of the Global Forum. It took place in Paris, France, in 2018 and London, United Kingdom, in 2019.