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G7/G8 Summit Meetings

SOMMET D'EVIAN 2003

G8 Conference on the Protection of Critical Infrastructures
Paris (Kleber International Conference Center), 24-26 March 2003

Press Statement

The first multilateral meeting devoted to the protection of critical infrastructures will take place at the Kléber International Conference Center in Paris, on 24-26 March 2003. Co-sponsored by France and the United States, it will be attended by very high-level experts from the G8 member states together with the major operators in the field in question (France Telecom for France). They will seek to define common principles for the protection of vital communications infrastructures.

The conference is being organized by the Secrétariat général de la défense nationale in close conjunction with the United States delegation and the G8 Subgroup on High-Tech Crime, known as the "Lyon Group."

Electronic communications networks and information systems are a mainstay of our economy, and are currently the target of global attacks as popularized by viruses such as I Love You, Code Red, and SQL Slammer in January 2003.

The interconnection of networks helps promote the circulation of information, but at the same time it facilitates a huge variety of malevolent acts, including denial of service attacks, worm viruses, Trojan horses, and identity usurpation.

Critical infrastructures are critical essential to the life of the country, and they must be protected against these attacks. The French Chair of the G8 places a high priority in this issue, as part of the fight against terrorism in all its forms, including the most recent ones.

In May 2000, a conference in Paris on security and confidence in cyberspace brought together high level government and private sector specialists from all of the G8 member countries. There, they discussed "cybercrime," i.e. high-tech crimes and the use of the Internet for criminal purposes. The international cooperation then instituted within the G8 continued on the occasions of the conferences in Berlin (October 2000) and Tokyo (May 2001). These still left a need to pay particular attention to the specific issues relating to the protection of critical infrastructures.

The recommendations emanating from the forthcoming Paris conference will be transmitted to the G8 member countries' Ministers of Justice and the Interior for their meeting in May 2003.

Source: Official G8 Evian Summit website

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