Ambassador Dr. Réka Szemerkényi spoke before cyber security experts from around the world about the future of the multilateral export control forum negotiated under the Wassenaar Arrangement, and its impact on the export of cyber security software and services worldwide.
Following her participation last year, Hungarian Ambassador to the United States Dr. Réka Szemerkényi took part in Georgetown University’s sixth annual International Conference on Cyber Engagement on Tuesday, April 26, 2016. Speaking before an audience of security professionals and key industry stakeholders, diplomats and esteemed academics, Ambassador Szemerkényi’s panel focused on the topic of the Wassenaar Arrangement and its future ramifications on global cyber security. The previous evening, she participated in a VIP dinner for conference speakers, where the discussion was introduced with an off-the-record presentation by The Honorable John P. Carlin, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, The U.S. Department of Justice.
The relevance and visibility of the event was illustrated by the keynote speakers: The Honorable John P. Carlin, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, The U.S. Department of Justice, The Honorable James B. Comey, Director, The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Dr. Andy Ozment, Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity and Communications, The Department of Homeland Security, and Admiral Michael S. Rogers, US Navy, Commander, US Cyber Command, and Director, National Security Agency/Chief, Central Security Service.
Ambassador Szemerkényi’s panel grappled chiefly with the issue of the regulation and export control of surveillance technologies. In 2013, 47 countries agreed to a proposal to make intrusion and surveillance technologies subject to multilateral export controls under the Wassenaar Arrangement. The Wassenaar Arrangement is the result of this agreement – a forum for dual use goods and technology where all 41 countries must come to a consensus on proposed export controls.
Reaffirming the Hungarian position on the subject, Ambassador Szemerkényi called for a review of the information security guidelines at the upcoming Wassenaar Plenary. This includes reassessing the potential risks and consequences of restricting the transfer of data and trying to account for the decline in information sharing both within and particularly countries outside the existing CERT infrastructure.
Also providing valuable contributions to panel discussion on which Ambassador Szemerkényi sat were: Robert Mayer, Vice President of Industry and State Affairs at USTelecom Association; Jeff Moss, former Vice President and Chief Security Officer of ICANN; Albrecht von Wittke, Minister Counselor of the Political Department of the Embassy of Germany, and Cheri McGuire, Vice President for Global Government Affairs and Cybersecurity Policy, Symantec, and Dr. Elaine Korzak, W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
Since the CyberProject’s founding in 2009, its stated mission has been the enhancement of international cooperation on cyber security through dynamic engagement with scholarly debate and practical security experts in an effort to create the best environment possible for the open exchange of diverse ideas.
You can find out more on the following link: http://msfs.georgetown.edu/CyberConference2016
Source: Embassy of Hungary