ISOC-CH statement on recent CIA revelations on surveillance and hacking
ISOC-CH endorses the statement of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), which develops and publishes basic Internet standards, regarding the recent allegations of CIA use of hacking published at:
https://www.ietf.org/blog/2017/03/observations-on-the-cia-revelations/
and we invite the Internet Society and all its chapters to also endorse this statement.
We concur that:
- Security is not a single feature but a property of the whole system.
- Information about flaws and vulnerabilities will inevitably leak and become known to cyber-criminals.
- All malware is dangerous and secret stockpiling of malware makes us all less safe.
- The security of our communications is very important and can literally affect lives, for example in hospitals.
We note with renewed regret and concern that recent decisions in favor of Swiss government use of Trojans as per BÜPF and NDG, as well as the decision in favor of preparing for offensive cyber warfare as foreseen in NDG, fail to take into account the facts pointed to above.
We reiterate our call on the government to refrain from using Trojans and from acquiring other malware, for the reasons stated by the IETF, in particular that such malware may fall in the hands of cyber-criminals.
We invite the Swiss government to contribute to international discussions of the issues highlighted by recent developments, and in particular with respect to implementing recent calls by both business and civil society for binding international agreement to prohibit offensive cyber-attacks and offensive cyber-operations.
