A world-class cybersecurity training program is currently being held in Tehran jointly by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Indian Advanced Level Telecom Training Center (ALTTC) and Iran's Faculty of Applied Science of Post and Telecommunication from May 12-16.
Held at Ferdowsi International Grand Hotel, the five-day program aims to educate participants on the potential threats behind using online services and applications and communicate ITU's Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA), Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) and Child Online Protection (COP), reported Iran's ICT Ministry website.
>Global Agenda
The specialized agency of the United Nations, responsible for ICT-related issues, ITU, launched the GCA in 2007 as a framework for international cooperation aimed at enhancing confidence and security in the information society.
According to ITU documents, the agenda is designed so as to promote cooperation and efficiency and encourage collaboration with and between all relevant partners building on existing initiatives to avoid duplicating efforts.
The security index often referred to by its acronym GCI is a survey that measures the commitment of member states to cybersecurity in order to raise awareness about the issue.
The cybersecurity index revolves around the agenda and its five pillars, namely legal, technical, organizational, capacity building and cooperation.
While many child-protecting efforts only have a national reach, through adopting a global approach to the challenge, the UN agency has introduced the COP which is an international collaborative network to promote the online safety of children across the continents.
Head of the ICT faculty, Vahid Yazdanian, says through the event, internationally acclaimed lecturers intend to pass on the valuable experiences they have gained in expanding and promoting national cybersecurity frameworks, utilizing Computer Incident Response Teams and delving into human and institutional capacity building.
>Major Topics
According to Yazdanian, the main themes of the event include the direction in which information and communications technologies is to be led and the necessity for their safe usage, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, artificial intelligence and Critical Information Infrastructure (CII).
He added, "Basically the objective is knowledge transfer regarding any cutting-edge technology."
IoT is a system of physical things embedded with sensors, software, electronics and connectivity to allow it to perform better by exchanging information with other connected devices, operators or manufacturers.
Blockchain technology is a digitized, decentralized, public ledger of all cryptocurrency transactions. Constantly growing as "completed" blocks (the most recent transactions) are recorded and added to it in chronological order, it allows market participants to keep track of digital transactions without central recordkeeping.
CII is any data, database, network and communications infrastructure in the possession or under the control of the state and anyone exercising a public power or performing a public function. To better clarify, a bank or a medical scheme are considered CII.
>Millions of Jobs
As part of the event, senior ICT managers have come to Iran and are attending meetings to exchange information with their counterparts.
Head of the ICT faculty hopes the endeavor will result in notable achievements in the education of Iran's cybersecurity community.
During one of the workshops, head of Iran Information Technology Organization Rasoul Sara'eian talked about employing IoT for agricultural schemes to help sustain water reserves. He added that smart technologies, remote sensing and controlling can make substantial contributions in addressing the worsening water crisis the world is grappling with.
Sara'eian further said they are focusing on two main points, namely digital revolution and digital economy.
According to him, the modern era's digital revolution is continuing its "rapid growth".
To underline its significance, he said, "By 2019, six million jobs will be created due to the public's need for cybersecurity."
During the event, instructors also underscored children's security online. Global efforts are underway to tackle the problem of children's addiction to the Internet as well as protecting them from inappropriate content.
According to some of the lecturers, considering the overwhelming reach of technology, human lives as a whole are being consumed by the digital world. They urged the audience to avoid absolute reliance on the ICT sector.
The educational content taught at the event is conveyed by ITU-approved tutors from India, Malaysia and Iran, including Raj Kumar Kunhiraman from Malaysia and Vinai Kumar Kanaujia and Ram Chandra Sharma from India.
