14 - 15 May, 2025
Geneva | Switzerland
Panel, 60 minutes
During this session, the GFCE Hub for the Pacific Region will engage with delegates in a substantive discussion concerning their high-level aspirations, which underscore the need for cyber capacity building. Similar to many other regions, the Pacific has witnessed a growing dependence on digital technologies, rendering it increasingly vulnerable to cyber threats, such as several notable ransomware incidents in some Pacific countries. The primary objective of this session is not only to emphasize the Pacific’s ambitions but also to discuss the various available avenues of support to address cyber-related challenges.
The session will also discuss issues that impedes the effective delivery of cyber capacity initiatives within the region. Recognizing and understanding these challenges is crucial for formulating effective mitigation strategies. Furthermore, the session will touch upon the inaugural Pacific Cyber Capacity Building Coordination Conference (P4C), which recently took place in Fiji in October.
Global communities across different sectors, industries, and societies are struggling to adapt to the pace of the rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape, especially when lacking awareness, knowledge, and the access to critical localized tools. This is often driven by the unique socio-economic, legal, and political challenges that impact making cybersecurity tools and solutions available at scale to diverse communities, especially in developing countries. Addressing these challenges requires clarity about investment needs and opportunities, as well as grassroots, institutional, and innovative distribution models that strengthen engagement and optimize impact.
AfricaCERT / Government of Mauritius
Information sharing and awareness between stakeholders is a defining feature of the cybersecurity community and one of its most important challenges. No stakeholder alone can sustainably identify and address all the cyber threats of the fast-changing digital landscape. Trusted, secure and scalable cyber information sharing needs to be a foundational platform on which all participants of the digital ecosystem can rely. This defines the need for a collaborative effort to build capacity particularly for the low-and middle-income countries with respect to cyber threat intelligence information sharing.
Cyber-poor environments – public or private entities that lack expertise or dedicated resources to address cyber threats – face significant challenges in attracting, training, and retaining cybersecurity talent. Skills-based volunteering and other innovative approaches have emerged to address this challenge and close the cybersecurity skills gap. Cyber volunteers have already proven their value by assisting nonprofits worldwide. Such volunteering initiatives should be scaled up to
address the needs of the most vulnerable communities.
Organization of American States / Cyber Security Agency of Singapore
With limited resources and a dynamic cyber threat landscape, regions are faced with increasing constraints in implementing comprehensive and coordinated CCB. As such, coordination within and between regions will be essential for international cooperation to improve cyber resilience. There are many opportunities for collaboration including ensuring that implementers take the regional context into account and more specifically cross- regional efforts given similarities in development and CCB needs. Global and regional processes and good practices have been developed to enable this, including through public-private partnerships. This session will explore these and discuss cross-regional approaches to CCB from the Americas and Asia.
This is a closed session (by invitation only).
Panel, 60 minutes The GFCE Southeast Asia Hub is dedicated to enhancing cyber resilience across the diverse nations of Southeast Asia. Our session will showcase how we are addressing key challenges and harnessing regional strengths to bolster cyber capacity-building. Southeast Asia is a melting pot of cultures, languages, and digital landscapes. Our hub emphasizes the importance of collaboration, information sharing, and cooperation among nations to effectively tackle regional and global cyber threats. Finally, the session will update the global community on Southeast Asia’s best practices and challenges that were discussed during the GFCE SEA regional meeting in October. This includes but is not limited to strengthening collaboration among ASEAN member states and stakeholders in the region, identifying country-specific cyber priorities and fostering cyber expertise exchange.