Statements by the Republic of Finland Open-Ended Working Group on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security Virtual Informal Consultations 19 June and 2 July 2020 Statement 1 delivered 19 June 2020 Mr. Chair, At the outset, I wish to join others in thanking you for convening these informal meetings and your relentless efforts to lead the work of this group towards a successful completion of its mandate. My delegation aligns itself with the statement by the European Union. In addition, we have few general remarks relating to the way forward and the report. As many other delegates before me, I wish to express my delegation’s full support for the Chair’s work plan for our way forward. We think the work plan is realistic in light of the serious impact the ongoing pandemic continues to have, almost in every country around the globe. The plan as proposed by the Chair will helps us to adapt our work to these exceptional circumstances in so as to bring our mandate to successful completion. We are also very much supportive of the pre-draft from the Chair. We believe the draft provides a solid basis for further deliberation by this Working Group. As several delegates have suggested, we also see some merit in clarifying some of the formulations in the draft report in order to clearly reflect the convergence or divergence of States’ views expressed during our discussions in the Working Group. As for the question on whether the current global situation revealed additional or amplified existing threats, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us of the pressing need to strengthen global cooperation to enhance global cyber resilience in order to prevent malicious behavior and advance stability in cyberspace and beyond. Ater all, chain is no stronger than its weakest link in the interconnected cyber domain. There has been a worrisome surge in malicious cyber activities taking advantage of the vulnerabilities in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, targeting critical infrastructures including the healthcare sector. Such malicious activities may not only put people’s lives at risk but, if left unabated, also undermine and threaten security and stability of the global community. Against this backdrop, we are supportive of the suggestion by Czech Republic and several other delegations to attach special attention to various threat and protective aspects of critical infrastructures highlighted by the current situation in the final report. Any attempt to disrupt and

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