Security in the information society is today a key public policy area that all governments are trying to come to grips with, and this government is very conscious of the public policy implications of eSecurity. Critical infrastructure protection, the impact of security on the competitiveness of industry, and matters of personal privacy and safety, are key factors. Statistics published this month confirm that every day we are becoming more and more reliant on the tools of information society.

53 per cent or almost 71,000 households have internet access and 36% which is equivalent to a bit more than 110,500 individuals of those aged 16 upwards use the internet at least once a week. We also know that households are shifting from narrow band to broadband access and that more than 44,000 individuals (14 per cent of the population) regularly shop online. We know that when it comes to enterprises, these figures are even higher. Yet, there is room for growth.

Malta is far from being alone in attempting to deal with the matter of eSecurity. As a matter of fact, it is a major public policy issue in many countries, and thus ENISA, the European Network Information Security Agency which was created a couple of years ago, has been specifically tasked to work with member states in furthering electronic security objectives. These considerations extend beyond the European Union; they are global in nature, and must be addressed at a national level within a framework of broader cross-border collaboration.

In this respect, I have just recently returned from the ITU’s plenipotentiary meeting where I was pleased to note that the ITU is actively pursuing its mandate in relation to eSecurity following the World Summit for the Information Society held this time last year. To this end, it created the Partnerships for Cyber-security initiative that should produce outcomes of direct relevance to our efforts in this regard.

The European Commission has also adopted a strategy on security in information society, and today we have a speaker lined up who can talk to us on the subject with authority. The Council of Ministers will, in the coming days, be adopting a resolution where it will be inviting the Commission, and all stakeholders, in particular industry players to take the necessary actions to ensure the security of the networks and systems that they operate or use.

My fellow ministers in the Council and I are convinced of the importance of addressing this matter and will be seeking to implement policies to ensure firstly that the private sector and the general public are sufficiently well informed on security risks and have the means to address them, and secondly that where necessary, legislative provisions will be put in place to ensure that adequate measures are taken by those in positions of responsibility. Malta will therefore participate actively in the current debate on the review of the EU electronic communications framework to ensure that any amendments to the security-related provisions will reflect these policy objectives.

The government should not be on its own in considering eSecurity to be a key area for intervention, and I cannot but stress the importance of collaborative action in this field. The government is fully aware that this is not a challenge that it can address single-handedly.

This conviction is reflected in the national eSecurity Working Group that the government has established and which brings together all stakeholders with a view to ensuring a coherent and collaborative approach to this subject.

We are currently also in the process of the formulation of the national eSecurity strategy. In line with the mandate of the eSecurity Working Group, the strategy will approach this subject from the broadest perspective linking issues of network and information security to those of cyber-crime. In many jurisdictions these two subjects have been treated in distinct streams.

We do not agree with this approach – we see these as different sides to the same coin. While recognising that security breaches may not necessarily be malicious – they can simply be accidental – there is no question that the greatest threat is created by malicious actions. We therefore see no other way than to address these fields simultaneously. We hope that in this matter, our size can help us to develop coordinated approaches more easily than can perhaps be done in other jurisdictions. We also hope that our national risk-tolerant culture will not work against us in this instance.

I invite all interested parties to work closely with the government in this area and to participate actively in the consultation process that will inform the formulation process of our national security strategy. The progress that Malta has registered in the telecommunications sector and in the development and the information society over the past few years has not been accidental; neither is it the result of some natural progression. These developments are the result of carefully planned policy based on public consultation and cooperation with all the players involved.

Censu Galea is Competitiveness and Communications Minister