The following are the outputs of the captioning taken during an IGF virtual intervention. Although it is largely accurate, in some cases it may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
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>>RENATA DWAN: Hello there to the IGF. And congratulations on having your annual open consultations this year, notwithstanding all the constraints that we face as a global community.
My name is Renata Dwan, and I'm director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, UNIDIR, based here in Geneva, Switzerland.
UNIDIR has been active in research, dialogue on cybersecurity matters for well over almost two decades now. And let me describe a little bit some of our current priorities and focuses over 2019 and 2020.
The first is our continued research on operationalizing the norms agreed by member states on responsible state behavior in cyberspace. We're focusing particularly on the norms agreed in the 2015 group of government experts established by the U.N.
And as part of that, we are trying to explore the content of the norm but also the elements required for its implementation by national and, as appropriate, regional and international actors.
We think that an inherent part of that operationalization is the engagement of a whole wide range of stakeholders. That includes state but also nonstate actors. And so as part of our research, we're engaging different groups together in dialogue and exploration of different norms.
The first norm that we looked at in 2019 was supply chain security. We've had a series of dialogues. And our report on that issue is available to be downloaded free of charge on UNIDIR's website.
We're currently working on a second norm: Responsible vulnerability disclosure. That will also be the product of a research report. And it has been the subject of a series of discussions.
We'll continue on with looking at cyber norms, including norms around critical infrastructure over the course of 2020.
Our second research stream is really exploring the efforts by states to establish and implement cyber norms and the measures that they're taking to ensure the operationalization of agreed principles and norms.
To that extent, and with a view to really encouraging more exchange of best practices and exchange of transparency, we established in 2019 a cyber policy portal. That portal provides details of the cyber policies of 193 states of the U.N. as well as key international and regional organizations.
We see that as a key element and tool that can facilitate, dialogue, transparency, and hopefully cooperative exchanges between states but also between the wider stakeholder community. And we encourage you to visit that, also available on our website.
Currently, we're undertaking a series of Webinars that explores the experiences and practices and the lessons that some states have undertaken or continue to learn in their efforts to reinforce their cybersecurity and stability.
As part of that Webinar exchange, which is currently under way, we will host a meeting, the final episode of the series, on the 25th of June looking at the role of civil society in implementing norms. We very much hope you will join us for that meeting. That Webinar details, available on our website.
The third stream of work relates to supporting multilateral processes under way currently in the United Nations to advance cyber stability, cybersecurity, and norms development as well as implementation.
The open-ended working group and the group of government experts that were established by the U.N. General Assembly's First Committee, as you know, is currently under way.
UNIDIR has established a technical expert team to support those processes and the chairs and the secretariat that are responsible for their running.
Our goals in establishing one team for those two processes is really to help facilitate member states in their efforts to advance their dialogue, to ensure coherence across the dialogues, to reduce duplications and overlap where feasible and appropriate and help streamline and make more effective the progress that member states can achieve over the course of these next important two years.
The COVID crisis has merely reinforced more than ever the urgency of making progress in these two bodies.
Finally, let me close by saying that UNIDIR runs an annual cyber stability conference. It's always one of the highlights in our agenda over the year.
This year I'm delighted to say we will go ahead with the cyber stability conference. It will take place on the 8th of September, and it will be a hybrid conference this year in light of the situation. We very much hope that we'll be able to welcome you in person and/or on the screen over the course of that day.
Thank you very much for your participation. Thanks very, very much for your engagement. And good luck to you.