Digital divide hinders SEA fight against cyber-terrorism

CEBU CITY (AFP) — Technology gaps among Southeast Asian nations are making it difficult for authorities to combat cyber terrorism, which has emerged as a new threat to regional security, experts said yesterday.

Speaking at an ASEAN forum on cyber terrorism in the central city of Cebu, Philippine commissioner for Information and Communications Technology, Tim Diaz de Rivera, said cyber terrorism was "transnational and borderless."

He said one of the problems facing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in any attempt to tackle the problem is the "technology gaps between member states."

The week-long conference is being attended by diplomats, cyber security and terrorism experts and officials from 25 countries or economies.

"While there is the bigger issue of bridging the various digital divide gaps between member states, there is also the need to bridge the capability gaps in protecting our respective information infrastructures from the awesome threat of cyber terrorism," Rivera told the forum.

"The rapid spread of information technology in all sectors of society has only strengthened the threat of cyber terrorism and in turn the region’s security.

"Only by knowing our enemy can we become more effective in our prevention methods," he added.

The three-day forum aims to discuss and share information on national policies on cyber terrorism.

Cyber terrorism is an attack by individuals or groups on a country’s computer infrastructure that could undermine security, similar to the I LOVE YOU virus created by a young Filipino hacker in 2000 that infected and compromised computer systems including that of the Pentagon.