A/69/112 The National Security Council Office has prepared and sent other thematic working group members a number of related proposals for their examination, harmonization and approval. Such proposals are structured by means of the following working documents: (l) Cyberdefence programme objectives; and (2) — South-East European National Security Authorities cyberdefence questionnaire. The Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia is participating in the implementation of General Assembly resolution 68/243. Departments within the Ministry of Defence are active in the working group tasked to draft the law on information security. Also, the Ministry of Defence is in the process of forming different departments that will operate in the area of information security and cyberdefence. Switzerland [Original: English] [29 May 2014] A. General appreciation of the issues of information security Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have become an indispensable driver of social, economic and political activities. Switzerland is committed to seize the opportunities that are generated by the use of ICTs. Switzerland takes account of the new developments and challenges in relation to ICTs and actively engages in shaping the information society by means of the Strategy of the Federal Council for an Information Society in Switzerland. However, the use of ICTs has exposed information and communication infrastructure to criminal, intelligence, politico-military or terrorist abuse or functional impairment. Disturbances, manipulation and specific attacks carried out via electronic networks are the risks that an information society entails. Against this background, States have become increasingly engaged in a series of regional and international policy discussions and debates over cybersecurity. This engagement is generated from a growing sense of insecurity regarding vulnerabilities in computer systems and related technologies and how they can be exploited for malicious purposes. Even though vulnerabilities and threats in this environment have been recorded since the 1980s, it was not until the past seven years that threats and vulnerabilities stemming from the use of ICTs were put on the national security agenda. As a result, the Swiss Federal Government set up an expert group in 2010 in order to scrutinize the risks and increase the national capacity to respond to these threats and vulnerabilities. Switzerland’s functioning as a holistic system depends on a growing number of mutually networked information and communication facilities (computers and networks). This infrastructure is vulnerable. Country-wide or long-lasting disruptions and attacks could have severe adverse effects for Switzerland’s technical, economic and administrative performance. Such attacks can be launched by a variety of perpetrators and have various motives: individual perpetrators, political activists, criminal organizations intent on fraud or blackmail, and terrorists or State spies who want to disrupt and destabilize the State and society. ICTs are particularl y attractive as targets not only because they offer many possibilities for abuse, manipulation and 14-56479 15/18