Cyber Norms on the Ground: Who Is Responsible for Securing Critical Infrastructure?
Cyber Norms on the Ground: Who Is Responsible for Securing Critical Infrastructure?
21 October 2025 (Tuesday)
Time: 1.00pm to 3.00pm (GMT +8)
Format: Closed Door Event
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?
This session presents 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. It draws on the Geneva Manual’s latest chapter, which translates high-level commitments into practical guidance for action in today’s complex threat environment.
Through a multistakeholder interactive conversation, the session will highlight challenges, share emerging good practices, and examine how diplomatic agreements are being interpreted, operationalised, and embedded into real-world decisions.
The session is organised by the Geneva Dialogue on Responsible Behaviour in Cyberspace, an initiative launched in 2018 by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and implemented by DiploFoundation, with the support of the Republic and State of Geneva, C4DT, and UBS. It aims to map the roles and responsibilities of various actors in cyberspace and to promote the framework for responsible behaviour.
| Speakers | |
| Mr Florian Schütz | Director Swiss National Cybersecurity Center Switzerland |
| Mr Tan E Guang Eugene | Associate Research Fellow at the Centre of Excellence for National Security S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University Singapore |
| Mr Teo Xiang Zheng | VP, Head of Advisory Ensign Infosecurity Singapore |
| Ms Shariffah Rashidah Syed Othman | Director, Cyber Security Policy and International Cooperation National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA) Malaysia |
Moderator |
|
| Ms Anastasiya Kazakova | Cyber Diplomacy Knowledge Fellow; Geneva Dialogue project coordinator DiploFoundation Russian Federation |
| Mr Vladimir Radunović | Director of Cybersecurity & E-diplomacy, Diplo DiploFoundation Serbia |
All information is accurate at time of publication and may be subject to changes.