Asean moves to protect IT network

South-East Asian telecommunications ministers have decided to set up the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) Network Security Coordination Council (NSCC) for better information and to stop terrorist attacks on computer networks in the region.

"We are now expanding from securing the physical infrastructure to securing the information infrastructure," said Philippine Transportation and Communi-cations Secretary Leandro Mendoza.

A group of experts to fight cyber-terrorism should include information technology (IT) experts and those in charge of fighting transnational crime, the Asean ministers said.

The NSCC will be set up in all the 10 Asean states - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam - the Asean ministers vowed.

They added that the regional IT cooperation will "facilitate the prevention, detection and resolution of security threats to computer networks".

An early warning system guarding computer networks is "necessary and urgent" not only for the protection of the IT infrastructure, but to sustain continuous communications among Asean members, said Leo Moggie, Malaysia's Minister of Communications and Energy.

In this light, a stronger Asean cooperation on infrastructures of information and communication technology (ICT) should be established, he said.

The ICT unit in the Jakarta-based Asean secretariat should be replicated in all Asean member countries, he added.

Private sectors in Asean should continue developing the human resources needed for the ICT. Private businesses should also provide Internet services region-wide, the ministers said.

All the ministers said they were not being alarmist, but noted that they want to pre-empt cyber-terrorism that attacks political and economic aspects of society.