Nations should be well equipped to meet the challenge of the cyber World War III

 At the opening of the ITU Telecom World exhibition and forum in Geneva on Monday Hamadoun Touré, secretary general of the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations agency that organized the event, warned that the world faces the third global war in the cyber space.

"The next world war could begin in cyberspace," warned Touré.

He noted that the start of the war could be out of control of traditional diplomacy inasmuch as in cyberspace "there is no such thing as a superpower: Every citizen is a superpower." Having an army of "bots," or zombie machines, at their disposal any user can collect huge power in a virtual battle. Implications of such ‘armament’ could be felt during recent DoS attacks that hit numerous targets across the globe.

"We know from conventional wars that the best way to win is not to start," Touré said. Following this principle the ITU is pushing an ambitious worldwide program for cybersecurity and peace.

"By the end of next year, we will broker a global agreement with every country to protect its citizens online, not to harbor cyberterrorists, and not to start an online attack," he said.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon noted that the world is divided today those with access to information on one side, and those without on the other. In order to contract this gap he encouraged participation of "our youth, drivers of innovation and change.”

Touré said that nations should encourage investment into infrastructure and services so as to eliminate the technology divide with the profit as the main motivation for such kind of financings.

"In our strategy of connecting the world, we have no need for charity: It's pure business. If you have the right business plan, you will have investment," he said.

The telecommunications industry will always have investment, because it's a profitable industry, he said.