Cyber wars, and global collaboration: Huawei executive sheds light on future cybersecurity challenges

Editor's note: Tawney Kruger is senior editor at Daryo. The article was originally published on Daryo. It was edited for clearance and reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

"Cybersecurity is no longer a weapon of mass disruption but of mass destruction, because it can kill lives," said Aloysius Cheang, Huawei's president of Cybersecurity & Privacy Protection and chief security officer for the Middle East and Central Asia, at the Cyber Security Summit in Tashkent, stressing the increasingly dangerous nature of cyberattacks.

He emphasized that the industry's failure to address root causes has exacerbated these threats. "Despite how much money, investment that we have done, it never solved the problem. We are still solving the problem 30 years back," he said. "You're not hitting the target at the red eye… you defined the problem statement wrongly," he added, calling for a more precise and comprehensive approach to cybersecurity.

One of the most critical vulnerabilities in modern cybersecurity, he explained, lies in supply chain security. Citing the recent pager attack in Lebanon as an example, he noted, "What supposedly the perpetrators have done is to attack the supply chain, right? At the production phase, they have imbued the back door in the product, that can be remotely triggered." Such infiltration poses serious risks, especially to critical infrastructure, which can be compromised before it even reaches the consumer.

Despite these challenges, Cheang emphasized the importance of innovation through research and development (R&D), technology transfer, and international collaboration in building cybersecurity capacity, while outmaneuvering sanctions and de-globalization.

"Cybersecurity is a team game. R&D and tech transfer are vital for capacity building. You can't solve complex national security problems in isolation; collaboration is key," he stated.

He stressed that joint projects and partnerships are crucial for fostering innovation and developing the expertise needed to respond to future cyber threats. "When countries and organizations work together on joint projects, they are not only sharing technology but building up the expertise and capacity that will allow them to respond to future threats more effectively," he said.

For regions like the Middle East and Central Asia, where cybersecurity infrastructure is still evolving, these collaborative efforts are especially important. "Investing in R&D, tech transfer, and joint projects is how we ensure long-term digital resiliency, not just for individuals and companies, but for national security as a whole," he said, pointing to the need for retention of knowledge through building local expertise and cultivating talents and expanding industry capability that have the know-how to collaborate with international players, so as to custom build resilient systems catering to localized needs that can meet regulatory demands while withstanding the ever-evolving cyber threats.