Cyber dangers were at the forefront of policymakers' minds as they attended this year's Munich Security Conference.
News that broke on the eve of the conference, which wrapped up on Sunday, set the tone. US and British officials revealed Russia was behind the NotPetya ransomware attack, with the FBI later indicting 13 Russians and identifying three Russian companies accused of meddling in the 2016 US election.
At the conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was forced to deny a Moscow plot. "Until we see the facts, everything else is just blather," he said.
HR McMaster, the US National Security Adviser, responded that Russia was waging electronic warfare, to “support rightist groups, even the most extreme forms of fascist groups, and then groups on the left, in an attempt to pit western societies against each other”.
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Read more:
Mueller indictment forces Trump camp to acknowledge Russian meddling
UK blames Russia for cyber attack, says won't tolerate disruption
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Experts say the big question is how to contain the threat.
“What is the international community going to do to collectively and effectively address the growing risk of cyberattacks on a time horizon that keeps pace with the evolving threat landscape?,” asked Tim Maurer, director of the Cyber Policy Initiative at the Carnegie Europe think tank, ahead of the conference.
“The worst-case scenario is that a major cyber incident will force collective action. A preferable outcome would be more substantial progress by the international community to avoid such an event. With some governments now taking steps to impose greater consequences against those crossing certain lines, it will be important to pursue global co-operation in areas of common interest,” he said.
At Munich, major presentations were made by tech companies that are the focus of concerns over fake news and other forms of manipulation, including Facebook and Google. Senior executives conceded there was a problem.
“The trust that has been built up in democracy is much easier to destroy than rebuild,” admitted Eric Schmidt, the former chief executive of Google.
He warned about the scale of the problem: “The internet is the first thing that humanity has build that humanity doesn’t understand."
Titles of events at the conference included "Digitally Assured Disruption", "The force awakens: Artificial intelligence and modern conflict", "The human toll of cyber conflict", and "Hackers, bots and terrorists, how to defend societies from cyber aggression".
One of the most popular was the Digital Forensic Research (DFR) laboratory’s event on "Disinformation, fake news and election integrity". Staff at the Atlantic Council-supported body have no doubt that the Kremlin has been caught out.
"Now we have independent Russian media that have named the troll factory accounts; Facebook and Twitter have confirmed the troll factory accounts on Facebook and Twitter. That is absolutely damning," said Ben Nimmo of the DFR. "There is no possible way you can say that that didn't happen. You now have the (US) Department of Justice further confirming it."
The German firm Siemens took the opportunity of Munich to launch a charter of trust for a secure digital future, saying cybersecurity threats could not be met with just a seat belt or an airbag.
“Confidence that the security of data and networked systems is a key element of digital transformation,’ said Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser.
The firm's 10-point plan for cybersecurity is a call to arms, with a coalition of firms behind the initiative calling for dedicated government ministries and independent certification of infrastructure for the internet.
Alleged Russian meddling in the US election — including the hacking of Democratic Party e-mails — came about despite a massive increase in Washington's spending on cybersecurity, which rose to $28 billion in 2016 from just $7.5 billion a decade earlier.
Like Siemens, US companies were also keen to put their expertise on display.
"The more we are connected the more we are vulnerable," said John Harris, CEO of cybersecurity firm Raytheon International.
"We understand the vulnerabilities, we understand the threats, and devise systems and solutions that afford us an opportunity to protect our networks, protect our products and protect our customers."
THE BIO:
Favourite holiday destination: Thailand. I go every year and I’m obsessed with the fitness camps there.
Favourite book: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It’s an amazing story about barefoot running.
Favourite film: A League of their Own. I used to love watching it in my granny’s house when I was seven.
Personal motto: Believe it and you can achieve it.
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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The biog
Favourite food: Fish and seafood
Favourite hobby: Socialising with friends
Favourite quote: You only get out what you put in!
Favourite country to visit: Italy
Favourite film: Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Family: We all have one!
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
