A/68/156
Information security is defined as the degree to which national interests in the field
of information are shielded from external and domestic threats.
Accordingly, the following all come under the heading of international threats
to information security:
• Unlawful use of information resources
• Unauthorized, destructive activities within automated systems, including those
systems used in the management of critical national infrastructure facilities
• Use of cyberspace, related activities or information technologies and resources
in a manner that violates fundamental human rights and freedoms or for the
purpose of carrying out terrorist, extremist or otherwise criminal acts,
including acts of aggression
• Use of information infrastructure to disseminate information that incites
animosity and hatred, in general or in a specific country
• Dissemination of information that runs counter to existing national legislation
and moral norms and principles
• Use of cyberspace to destabilize society and undermine the economic, political
and social system of another State or to spread misinformation designed to
distort cultural, ethical and aesthetic values
• Prevention of access to cutting-edge technologies, fostering dependence in the
field of information technology in order to gain an advantage and control over
foreign cyberspace.
The following globalization-related problem areas should be highlighted: mass
or individually targeted informational and psychological manipulation; limitations
on consumer access to services based on information and telecommunications
technologies; and cybercrime.
According to Ukrainian experts, the following factors may lead to an increased
likelihood of the threats described above:
• Low computer literacy on the part of most users of information resources and
cyberspace services
• The lack of a common international conceptual framework for information
security
• Varied approaches in national legislation to information protection measures
designed to establish and update (restore) information infrastructure
• Disparate levels of computerization and information security in different
countries
• The danger of linking potentially destructive resources to information and
telecommunications systems
• The fact that sources of unauthorized activities in cyberspace may not be
clearly identified.
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