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Armenian Center for National and International Studies
75 Yerznkian Street
Yerevan 0033, Armenia
Tel: (+374 – 10) 52.87.80 or 27.48.18
Fax: (+374 – 10) 52.48.46
Email: root@acnis.am or info@acnis.am
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July 23, 2009
ACNIS Convenes a Discussion on `IT Development and
the Challenge of Cyber-Security in Armenia’
Yerevan–The Armenian Center for National and International Studies
(ACNIS) held a special roundtable discussion today on `IT Development
and the Challenge of Cyber-Security in Armenia,’ with three main
presentations, by ACNIS Director Richard Giragosian, ACNIS
Administrative Director Dr. Karapet Kalenchian and Ashot Turajyan,
ACNIS System Administrator and Webmaster.
This event was especially timely and significant, as it followed a
series of recent `cyber-attacks,’ which disrupted or disabled a number
of Armenian websites, including those belonging to the Armenian
government, media and private organizations.
Welcoming the participants, ACNIS Director Richard Giragosian
explained that the discussion was aimed at drawing attention to the
state of IT development and cyber-security in Armenia, which he
defined as `a significant aspect of national security that is also
directly linked to the future economic development of Armenia.’ He
added that the event was the first of a series of activities that
ACNIS plans to hold on the issue of IT and cyber-security, including
the challenge of the `digital divide’ of the country, whereby a large
number of Armenians have no regular access to the Internet. ACNIS
also released a new `Analytical Report’ examining several aspects of
Internet and cyber-security, including the economic, political,
commercial and military-security implications of this issue.
Giragosian said that `the strengthening of cyber-security and the
fighting of cyber-crime in Armenia represents an effort of strategic
importance for the Republic of Armenia,’ adding that `the strategic
imperative of cyber-security stems from the realities of today’s
globalized marketplace, the demands of a new security environment and
from the specific needs for ensuring adequate security for the
development of the Information Technology (IT) sector.’
According to Giragosian, Armenia also `needs to keep pace with
Azerbaijan,’ pointing out that `the Azerbaijani government has also
been increasingly concerned with the need for enhanced cyber-security
and has formed a state Internet Security Council,’ and warned that
`the Azerbaijani military has expressed an interest in bolstering its
own cyber-warfare capabilities.’ He argued that it was `a strategic
imperative for Armenia to recognize cyber-security as an urgent
priority, in terms of keeping pace with globalization and defending
against the new security threats of the 21st century,’ and stressed
that `more specifically, there are four principal components of
Armenian cyber-security: to safeguard and defend national security, to
engage and integrate into the globalized marketplace, to develop and
expand a knowledge-based economy, and to ensure and modernize military
cyber-security.’
Giragosian ended his presentation by stating that `while defining a
country’s national security is one of the more basic obligations of a
state and the concept of national security is essentially defined by a
state’s mission to meet possible threats, both internal and external,
this state mission is comprised of three main pillars: to protect its
territorial integrity and state borders; to provide security for its
population; and to preserve stability, in both political and economic
terms.’ He continued by saying that for Armenia, `the challenge of
national security, especially in today’s complex environment of
multiplying threats, is to ensure that both the definition and defense
of national security is a dynamic, not static, process of constant
vigilance and preparation.’
`For Armenia,’ according to Giragosian, `which is small in both size
and population, national security holds an even greater role in the
face of the threats of isolation and blockade, and the imperative for
cyber-security, therefore, is merely one element of a broader
long-term mandate to ensure the viability of Armenia’s overall
national security.’
Following Giragosian’s presentation, ACNIS Administrative Director Dr.
Karapet Kalenchian offered a presentation on the `Information Security
of Social and Political Systems,’ addressing the theory of technical,
biological and socio-political systems in terms of self-governance, as
devised by American scientist Norbert Winner in 1948, which he termed
`cybernetics.’ Kalenchian noted that this model studied how
information was formed, transferred and codified.
Kalenchian explained that `the main importance of the issue was in
society’s right to make a choice and have a chance for getting
information, but excluding national secrets and information that
contains defense or diplomatic secrets, or material in conflict with
the law, for example, such as information related to racism or
inter-religious intolerance.’ He concluded by noting that `every
person has an inherent right to choose the source of information and
if this principle is violated, the country becomes incomplete.’ He
also argued that `if two countries, which have equal military, human
and economic strength, wage war against each other, the winner is the
country whose information security is stronger.’
The closing presentation, `The Level of Development of IT in Armenia,’
was by Ashot Turajyan, ACNIS System Administrator and Webmaster, who
assessed the price structure for Internet services throughout the
country. His presentation offered a comparative evaluation of the
difference in the IT sector both in terms of the region, as well as
between Armenia’s urban and rural areas. Turajyan added that, as one
example, `the home internet speed of 1-megabyte is priced at a tariff
of 80 dollars in Armenia, leading us to conclude that this tariff
concerns only Yerevan as such home internet speed in Armenian regions
(marzes) is too expensive.’
He then addressed the problem of a lack of competition, explaining
that `although Armentel (Beeline) is not a monopoly in the digital
connection sphere, the internet `monopolistic’ prices are continuing
to pose an obstacle to IT development.’ He also cited the recent
`problems from the cyber attack on Arminco Internet provider servers
by Arab hackers, in which tens of sites were disrupted, including the
Armenian Government website gov.am and various banking sites.’ In
those cyber-attacks, Turajyan explained that `the level of
sophistication was so serious that the hackers were even able to
target other important resources hosted on Arminco web servers.’
Turajyan concluded by stressing that `the most important and urgent
problem for Armenia was the protection and security of websites and
servers themselves.’ He also proposed that `a new level of
preparation and training was needed to withstand this danger as well
as to organize some powerful counterattacks to protect Armenia and
strengthen cyber-security.’
The event, which was attended by several analysts, experts and
journalists, closed with a lively discussion, as many participants
expressed their opinions regarding the need for greater attention to
the challenge of developing Armenian IT and ensuring cyber-security.
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The Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) is
a leading independent strategic research center located in Yerevan,
Armenia. As an independent, objective institution committed to
conducting professional policy research and analysis, ACNIS strives to
raise the level of public debate and seeks to broaden public
engagement in the public policy process, as well as fostering greater
and more inclusive public knowledge. Founded in 1994, ACNIS is the
institutional initiative of Raffi K. Hovannisian, Armenia’s first
Minister of Foreign Affairs. Over the past fifteen years, ACNIS has
acquired a prominent reputation as a primary source of professional
independent research and analysis covering a wide range of national
and international policy issues.
For further information on the Center call (37410) 52-87-80 or
27-48-18; fax (37410) 52-48-46; email root@acnis.am or info@acnis.am;
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