This month,
officials from the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC)
have said
they are having discussions
about funding digital infrastructure in developing countries.
This comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
highlights the importance of supporting countries
that are most vulnerable to nation-state cyberattacks.
What other events surround this decision
and in what would this council invest?
Find out in this post.

Events surrounding the TTC decision

First off,
what is the U.S.-EU TTC?
It is a group created in 2021
to address policies on bilateral trade
and strengthen cooperation on technology advances
between the U.S. and the EU.
Further,
they intend to work together with like-minded third countries.
That is,
countries that value,
or are struggling with upholding,
democracy,
freedom
and other human rights.

One of the accomplishments of the TTC was to coordinate the two economies
to impose sanctions on Russia
during the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Now,
their concerns with this war do not stop at economy
but rather expand to technology as well.
Therefore,
the conflict has fueled the interest of the two jurisdictions
in helping infrastructure funding in Ukraine.

The cyberwar has increased the importance
of securing organizations’ information systems
in countries vulnerable to nation-state cyberattacks.
Already a series of worrisome events have been seen
in the past two months in Costa Rica.
There,
the Conti ransomware gang
(allegedly based in Russia)
conducted a wave of cyberattacks
against organizations,
including systems of the government
and private firms.
And only a few weeks ago,
the country was hit by another ransomware operation
that may also have ties with Conti.

TTC officials told
the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) this week
that the council will tackle the issue of heightened risk
in developing countries by funding their cybersecurity.
The plan is that the projects kick off by the end of this year,
likely in Africa and Latin America.
This is unprecedented news.
It’s the first time the U.S. and the EU would join forces
to help protect the critical infrastructure of foreign countries
against cyberattacks.

By the explanation of one EU official,
the council is stepping in before these countries accept funding from China.
This proves an urgent matter for the U.S.,
as its relationships with some countries in Latin America may be deteriorating
in favor of China.
Case in point,
the Ninth Summit of the Americas
that was held earlier this month
was met with harsh criticism
after the Biden administration excluded Cuba,
Venezuela
and Nicaragua
from the event.
Moreover,
top leaders from Mexico,
Bolivia,
Guatemala,
Honduras
and El Salvador skipped the meeting in protest.
Journalist Roberto Lovato has commented on the significance of the discontent,
saying that China is building infrastructure throughout South America
and would likely gain more power in the region.
For example,
in Brazil,
China has invested in a number of projects
in the sector of information technology.

The concern with China goes beyond the growth of its trade relationships.
An EU official told
the WSJ
that there are some security risks to using Chinese technology.
Reportedly,
products by some manufacturers may come
with “flaws that can be used for government espionage.”
For instance,
various news outlets said
in 2018 that,
for five years,
China had been transferring confidential data
from the Chinese-built information infrastructure
in the African Union’s headquarters in Ethiopia.
Moreover,
China has had a history of censorship,
creating regulations
that bar content on the Internet
that criticizes the current regime.
So,
countering China,
the TTC expects with its plans to defend privacy and democracy.

What would the TTC invest in?

The agenda
of the TTC revolves around securing information
and communications technology and services (ICTS).
As a key outcome since last year,
they mention launching a task force for funding secure,
resilient
and rights-respecting ICTS supply chains in foreign countries.
In the council’s statement,
they say they aim to encourage the use of providers
that do not represent a high risk.
As to where do they get the money from,
they have turned to public funding bodies,
development finance banks
and EU Member State export credit agencies.

In this new project,
the TTC would be taking the opportunity,
as previously suggested
to the EU,
to work closely with countries that are less developed
and have (more) vulnerable democracies.
The focus would be on developing digital regulation
(e.g., data protection policies),
therefore enhancing privacy
and fighting disinformation.
They also would work on enhancing the investment in connectivity
and the cooperation in security
and technology development.

Regarding the funding of physical infrastructure,
the WSJ says
that a model would be the USD 30M project in which the U.S.,
Australia
and Japan
helped fund the construction
of an undersea cable to secure communications networks to Palau,
an archipelago in Oceania.

But does this initiative not go beyond funding?
Julia Schuetze,
who directs projects for international cybersecurity policy,
has expressed
that this initiative should not be a matter of just paying
for the infrastructure
but also helping develop capabilities
to maintain the security of the infrastructure.
This may prove most beneficial to countries
where there are fewer cybersecurity professionals.
She says
that these countries especially
“have a hard time keeping infrastructure protected
because equipment has to be kept up-to-date with security threats.”
So,
to achieve their goals,
the TTC may have to sustain a long-lasting engagement with these countries.

Although this news sounds promising for the Americas,
we at Fluid Attacks
reiterate the importance of testing the security of systems
while they are being developed.
Our ethical hackers
use several techniques
to find the vulnerabilities in organizations’ systems
before malicious attackers do.
By fixing these issues promptly,
firms throughout the continent can prevent ransomware
and other kinds of attacks.
Want to learn more?
Contact us.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Fluid Attacks RSS Feed authored by Jason Chavarría. Read the original post at: https://fluidattacks.com/blog/us-europe-funding-latam-africa/