Geneva Dialogue session at the Global Digital Collaboration Conference (GDCC 2025)
2025-07-02 10:50 - 11:50 (Europe/Zurich)
Organised by the C4DT-EPFL, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and DiploFoundation, the session brought together representatives from government, industry, and academia for an open discussion on the evolving relevance of cyber norms and the rules-based international order in safeguarding critical infrastructure. While states have endorsed norms for responsible state behaviour in cyberspace, the discussion highlighted persistent challenges in their implementation.
Serge Droz (Swiss FDFA), Roman Zhukov (RedHat), and Imad Aad (C4DT-EPFL) noted that states often lack effective mechanisms to operationalise norms and confidence-building measures (CBMs), placing disproportionate responsibility on the private sector, which owns and operates much of the infrastructure. The gap between commitments and practice—particularly evident in ongoing malicious cyber activities—raised concerns about accountability, especially in the context of armed conflict where roles can quickly shift.
The panel explored how various stakeholders interpret and apply these norms and discussed whether existing frameworks are still adequate for today’s complex and fragmented security environment.
At the same time, the session highlighted important areas of convergence and opportunity. While technical communities and open-source developers may not explicitly engage with UN cyber norms, their day-to-day priorities—security, stability, and resilience—are deeply aligned with the overarching goals of these frameworks.
The Geneva Dialogue was cited as a valuable platform for bridging this gap by translating state-led commitments into shared understanding and actionable practices across stakeholder groups. Positive remarks were made about the potential of cyber norms to support international cooperation on security, even as political, legal, and technical barriers continue to grow.
The conversation reaffirmed that while norms may originate in diplomatic forums, their effectiveness depends on broad-based engagement—from open-source communities to governments—especially as the threat landscape continues to evolve.

From Geneva to Abu Dhabi: Algorithms Redefining War and Peace
2025-09-09
The Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi (8–9 September 2025) has quickly become one of the UAE’s flagship spaces for global dialogue — a place where leaders, experts, and thinkers from around the world debate the big issues shaping our future. Mr Vladimir Radunovic, Diplo’s Director for Cybersecurity and E-diplomacy, will join the panel “Geneva vs Algorithms: Redefining Laws of War and Peace” — a conversation on how algorithmic systems and AI, diplomacy, and international law and norms collide in today’s shifting global security landscape.
With rapid advances in autonomous systems, algorithmic decision-making, and cyberwarfare, the session will explore the applicability and the need to update the global frameworks that govern armed conflict and peacekeeping. We will reflect on the role of international Geneva and the UN overall in shaping rules and norms that can help secure peace in the digital age, while highlighting Geneva’s unique ecosystem of institutions and stakeholders that enables dialogue, negotiation, and the implementation of agreements. Drawing on lessons from initiatives such as the Geneva Dialogue on Responsible Behaviour in Cyberspace, we pointed to what works — and what still needs to be done — in bridging the gap between diplomacy and the algorithmic realities of the modern security environment.
More information is available at: https://hiliforum.ae/en

Cyber Norms on the Ground: Who Is Responsible for Securing Critical Infrastructure?
2025-10-21 07:00 - 09:00
When everything is critical, who protects it? What do cyber norms actually tell us to do? And how, and by whom?
Dependence on digital infrastructures is continuously increasing, from energy grids to healthcare systems, making them an ever more attractive target for malicious cyber operations. As these risks intensify, the urgency grows to move beyond political declarations toward meaningful, coordinated action.
States have endorsed the UN framework for responsible State behaviour in cyberspace – including norms and CBMs that call for the protection of critical infrastructure. Regional organisations such as the OSCE and ASEAN have agreed to similar CBMs. But who implements these norms and CBMs? Who ensures they are upheld not only by governments, but also by the operators, engineers, developers, and researchers behind the world’s most essential systems?
These questions were discussed at the Geneva Dialogue’s session at the Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW) on 21 October. The session presented the Geneva Manual on Responsible Behaviour in Cyberspace exploring the evolving roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders in implementing cyber norms and confidence-building measures for critical infrastructure protection.
Through a multistakeholder interactive conversation, the session highlighted challenges, shared emerging good practices, and examined how diplomatic agreements are being interpreted, operationalised, and embedded into real-world decisions.
The session was opened by Mr Daniel Klingele, Senior Advisor, International Security Division, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), and Mr Christopher Anthony, Director, Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) Division, Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA). They framed the discussion on critical infrastructure protection and challenges for international cooperation.

Ms Anastasiya Kazakova, Cyber Diplomacy Knowledge Fellow and Geneva Dialogue Project Coordinator, DiploFoundation, presented the newly launched Chapter 2 of the Geneva Manual (May 2025), which conveys seven key messages from non-state stakeholders on the protection of critical infrastructure. The chapter highlights:

The need to broaden the definition of damage in UN Norm F beyond physical destruction to include service disruptions, collateral effects, and other non-physical harms.
Calls for states to provide clear legal and policy guidance to private entities and CI operators.
The importance of harmonised, risk-based baseline cybersecurity requirements across jurisdictions.
Protection of responsible vulnerability disclosure and the preservation of trusted cross-border technical collaboration, even amid rising geopolitical tensions.

Participants then engaged in a scenario exercise on a hospital cyberattack, later revealed as a supply chain compromise requiring international cooperation.

The exercise was led by Mr Tan E Guang Eugene, Research Fellow, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, with contributions from:

Mr Teo Xiang Zheng, Vice President, Head of Advisory, Ensign Infosecurity

Ms Shariffah Rashidah Syed Othman, Deputy Director General, Personal Data Protection Department, Ministry of Digital, Malaysia
Mr Christopher Anthony, Director, Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) Division, Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA)

The session concluded with a fireside chat moderated by Mr Vladimir Radunović, Director of Cybersecurity & E-diplomacy, DiploFoundation, featuring Mr Marc Henauer, Senior Political and International Affairs Officer, Swiss National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), and Dr Bushra Al Blooshi, Director of Governance and Risk Management for Cybersecurity, Dubai Electronic Security Center. The experts discussed the implications of geopolitical fragmentation: the risks of competing digital ecosystems undermining global cybersecurity, but also the potential for resilience and innovation in a more diverse digital landscape.

From cooperation to fragmentation: Can technology and cybersecurity governance survive the age of geopolitical tension?
2025-11-25 08:30 - 17:15 | Centre International de Conférences Genève, Switzerland
On 25 November, Imad Aad, Technical Project Manager at C4DT – EPFL and member of the Geneva Dialogue Core Group, spoke on the challenges facing international cooperation in cybersecurity amid a rapidly evolving global order and intensifying geopolitical turbulence. The discussion took place during the 30th International Humanitarian & Security Conference, dedicated to “The New World (Dis)order: Global Governance, Institutions and Norms in an Age of Uncertainty.”
Today’s international environment is marked by rising geopolitical tensions, strategic rivalries, and growing fragmentation, all of which erode trust and complicate cooperation across regions. In this context, cyberspace has become increasingly complex and contested, with sophisticated threat actors, accelerated attack cycles, and emerging risks driven by artificial intelligence—ranging from hyper-realistic phishing to deepfake-enabled fraud.
Another significant development is the shift towards framing cybersecurity through the lens of national sovereignty. This trend is driving the emergence of governance models that blend security, economic, and strategic imperatives. It is reflected in regulatory practices focused on data governance, supply-chain resilience, and technology standards that now extend across physical, digital, and economic domains, reshaping how states and industries interact.
As part of his intervention, Imad highlighted the Geneva Dialogue as a concrete and effective case study of cross-regional, multistakeholder cooperation during a time of geopolitical volatility. He underscored how the Dialogue brings together governments, industry leaders, academia,civil society, and technical communities, including experts from open-source community, to build shared understanding, exchange practical experiences, and develop principled guidance for responsible behaviour in cyberspace. In an era where formal political channels are often strained, the Geneva Dialogue demonstrates that inclusive, trust-building platforms can still advance cooperation and create space for constructive engagement across geopolitical divides.
Stephanie Borg Psaila, Director of Digital Policy, Diplo also contributed to the panel discussion, emphasising the vital role of civil society in sustaining and strengthening collaboration among states, the private sector, academia, and other stakeholders despite deepening global uncertainties.

FIRST Good Practice Webinar Series Session 4 - Cyber Diplomacy: Strengthening Collaboration Among National CSIRTs Confirmation
2025-11-27 15:15 | Online Zoom
On 27 November, Anastasiya Kazakova, Cyber Diplomacy Knowledge Fellow at Diplo and Geneva Dialogue Project Coordinator, delivered a presentation on recent developments in the UN cyber negotiations and discussed practical avenues for African security teams to strengthen their engagement in cyber diplomacy. The session took place as part of the FIRST Good Practice Webinar Series (Season 4), a programme designed to explore how technical cooperation, information sharing, and diplomatic engagement can reinforce trust and operational collaboration among national and sectoral CSIRTs.
The series was delivered courtesy of the FIRST Africa Regional Liaison initiative, made possible through the generous support of UK International Development as part of the Africa Cyber Programme.
The Webinar Series, led by Lawrence Muchilwa, Africa Regional Liaison at FIRST, aimed to examine how cyber diplomacy is increasingly shaping effective CSIRT-to-CSIRT cooperation, as well as to identify the diplomatic and operational factors that enable trust, interoperability, and coordination among national CSIRTs. In doing so, the series also works to generate practical recommendations for strengthening regional and international partnerships in cyber incident management.
In her intervention, Anastasiya highlighted the key outcomes of the current UN Open-Ended Working Group negotiations and explained how African security teams can contribute more actively to cyber diplomacy processes. She emphasised the importance of bringing technical expertise into national deliberations on cyber norms, participating in international dialogue platforms, and using multistakeholder initiatives to support capacity-building and regional resilience.
The webinar also featured presentations from two additional speakers. Ellah Hamwaka, Incident Response Officer and former representative of Malawi to the UN OEWG on ICT security, shared insights from her involvement in shaping national positions on cyber stability, norms, and cooperation. Emmanuella Darkwah, Senior Manager for International Cooperation, drew on her experience participating in the UN OEWG on Developments in ICTs in the Context of International Security, highlighting the value of CSIRT perspectives in multilateral cybersecurity discussions. Together, the speakers underscored the growing need for stronger engagement between technical and diplomatic communities and stressed the potential for African CSIRTs to play a more influential role in shaping responsible state behaviour in cyberspace.
