“Cyber weapons are an important means of influencing world affairs. “Strengthening cooperation between government and private sector is essential to counter hacking threats.”

On the 27th, the Korea Economic Association held a seminar with the Korea Information Protection Industry Association at the FKI Tower Conference Center on the topic of ‘Digital Sovereignty and Cyber Security in the AI Era.’

This seminar was attended by Stanford University professor Anne Neuberger, who served as Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology at the National Security Council (NSC) of the White House, and gave a keynote speech and led a discussion.

“Given the most serious cyberattacks of the past 15 years, cyber weapons are a vital means of shaping world affairs and a powerful tool of state action,” said Professor Neuberger in his keynote speech. “We have learned that cyber is a tool of state power in competition, crisis, and conflict.”

Last December, when a hacking group breached at least eight U.S. telecommunications companies and accessed communications records of senior officials, Professor Neuberger led the response as deputy national security adviser.

Professor Neuberger said that the malware found in water and power systems in many countries, including the United States, “appears to go beyond simple espionage activities and is preparation to prevent US military mobilization in a crisis or to cause civil unrest.” He added that “I have 15 years of experience in both offense and defense in the US intelligence community, and I have seen that defenses often lag behind.”

“There is a competition between defense and offense, and we must be ahead on defense,” Professor Neuberger emphasized.

In addition, he said, “Strengthening cooperation between the government and the private sector is essential to counter hacking threats,” and “Since hacking crimes target all countries, solutions can be found through cooperation between the public and private sectors and international solidarity.”“We need to prepare it,” he said.

He also said, “During the hacking incident of major U.S. telecommunications companies, the initial detection began when a private cybersecurity company reported it to the U.S. government,” and “The White House responded by convening telecommunications CEOs and promoting cooperation across the industry.”

Earlier, Vice Chairman Kim Chang-beom of the Korea Economic Daily emphasized in his opening remarks that “cyberattacks can affect not only individual companies, but also entire industries, national image, and even international credibility,” and that “we must now strengthen public-private cooperation to protect digital sovereignty, going beyond information protection at the level of individual companies.”

The recent financial sector personal information leaks, ransomware attacks, and global supply chain hacking incidents have increased the need to strengthen cyber response capabilities in both the private and public sectors.

In his welcoming speech, Cho Young-cheol, Chairman of the Korea Information Protection Industry Association, emphasized, “Cybersecurity is an ‘invisible shield’ that protects a nation’s technological sovereignty,” and “In modern society where cutting-edge technologies determine a nation’s external influence, securing digital sovereignty through cybersecurity has become more important.”