Bangkok, Thailand will see the inaugural Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resilience Asia take place at the Avani Atrium Bangkok on 24th-25th June to discuss key issues and challenges on protecting and securing ASEANs critical infrastructure and information.
The announcement of the Preliminary Conference Programme highlights the importance of this discussion, with a great range of high level speakers from key industry sectors across ASEAN, looking at key issues from emerging threats identification and management to Modelling, Simulation, Convergence and Standardisation for Improving CIP Solutions, and International & National Agency and Operator Co-operation to Emergency Preparedness and Response Coordination.
The conference not only investigates the threats, security and resilience of physical operations, such as the power plant, transmission grid, road/rail network or telecommunications network, but also the cyberspace that interconnects our society and the critical infrastructure, enabling hackers to access the information and data held by government and corporations, or attacks on SCADA systems.
Speakers include:
– Dr. Koonton Yamploy, Director of Geotechnical and Engineering Division, Department of Highways, Ministry of Transport, Thailand
– Police Major General Apichat Suriboonya, Head of Interpol NCB Thailand, Commander of Foreign Affairs Division, Royal Thai Police
– Professor Dr. Panitan. Lukkunaprasit, an adviser to the Center of Excellence in Earthquake Engineering and Vibration, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
– Prof. Dr. Krasae Chanawongse, Chairman, Asian Disaster Preparedness Center
– Dr. Indrajit Pal, Assistant Professor – Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation and Management, Asian Institute of Technology
– Professor Surapon Virulrak, Ph.D, Executive Committee, Association of Siamese Architects Under Royal Patronage
– Dr. Kitti Subprasom, Bureau of Planning, Department of Highways, Ministry of Transport, Thailand
– Yap Kwong Weng, Chief Operating Officer, Parami Energy, Myanmar
Cyber security also plays an important role in the discussion, with speakers including:
– Mr Mohd Zabri Adil Talib, Head of Digital Forensics, Cyber Security Responsive Services, Cybersecurity Malaysia (Under Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation (MOSTI))
– Ricardo Baretzky, President, European Centre for Information Policy and Security (ECIPS), CYBERPOL program
– Dr. Sak Segkhoonthod, CEO and President, Electronic Government Agency and Cloud Security Alliance, Thailand
Keynote speakers include Lt General Datuk Dr. William Stevenson, Chief Executive of the Malaysian Institute of Defence & Security.
The preliminary conference programme can be viewed at http://www.cip-asia.com.
Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resilience Asia is being co-hosted by the Department for Disaster Prevention & Mitigation (under the Ministry of Interior) and the Ministry of Information & Communication & Technology, as well as support from the Ministry of Transport and Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau.
The ever changing nature of threats, whether natural through climate change, or man-made through terrorism activities, either physical or cyber attacks, means the need to continually review and update policies, practices and technologies to meet these growing demands.
The event will bring together leading stakeholders from industry, operators, agencies and governments to collaborate on securing Asia. The conference will look at developing existing national or international legal and technical frameworks, integrating good risk management, strategic planning and implementation.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region continues to develop closer ties with the announcement of the Asian Economic Community (AEC), the further integration of the regions economies and policies, and therefore critical national infrastructure, is inevitable.
This is already being demonstrated with the Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline and ASEAN Power Grid operational across the region, to which all countries rely, and will continue to integrate further, creating a joint responsibility for their protection and security.
Attacks on critical infrastructure sites are a favoured target for terrorist groups, for good reason. They offer what is seen by the terrorist as a soft target, that is, maximum effect with minimal chance of interdiction. The potential effects in terms of damage, the hugely detrimental economic impact, disruption of normal daily life and resulting publicity, can far outweigh the terrorist organisations commitment in both manpower and risk.
Southeast Asia has seen a rise in insurgency-related attacks and terrorist activities, creating uncertainty and insecurity on critical national infrastructure. Climate change has also seen more extreme weather patterns, creating additional hazardous, unseasonal and unpredictable conditions and a severe strain on infrastructure.
On a country level, there are strategies to deal with infrastructure protection issues. On a regional level, there is the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER), under which several teams have been set up to deal with disaster management in general, but none is geared towards the protection of critical infrastructure.
Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resilience Asia brings together leading stakeholders from industry, operators, agencies and governments to debate and collaborate on securing South East Asia’s critical infrastructure and its valuable information and data.
Links
www.cip-asia.com
