The Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI) and Microsoft have formed a partnership and held on Tuesday (May 2nd) a closed-door meeting with the objective of gathering recommendations for the federal government and civil society regarding the country's cybersecurity within the global context. At the end of the project, which includes four closed-door meetings, a public document will be elaborated on the subject.
Participating in this first meeting was Neno Malisevic, Director of Digital Diplomacy at Microsoft, Mônica Ruiz, Manager of Governmental Relations at Microsoft, and Marcelo Malagutti, Advisor to the Cabinet of Institutional Security of the Presidency, Ana Paula Bialer, founding partner of Bialer Falsetti Associados, a law firm that assists companies in technological issues, and the Academic Director of CEBRI, Feliciano Sá Guimarães, also a professor at the University of São Paulo (USP).
According to the Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2022, basic cybersecurity practices such as implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA), applying zero-trust principles, using modern anti-malware, keeping software up to date, and protecting data can prevent 98% of attacks. Good 'cyber hygiene' is a key step, however, there is still much need for awareness of these actions.
According to data recently released by Fortinet, a cybersecurity solutions company, Brazil was the second most affected country in Latin America by cyber attacks in 2022, second only to Mexico. Last year, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) alone suffered almost 2.5 million attempted hacker attacks within seven months. This monitoring was done by the Court and corresponded to the months of November 2021 to May 2022. In April, the STF website was even taken offline.
Another concern related to cybersecurity and geopolitics is espionage between states. Brazil wants to put up barriers and better protect itself from this type of threat. The objective of the National Cyber Defense Policy, which is being developed by the Institutional Security Cabinet of the Presidency of the Republic (GSI) and was discussed among the participants, is to make the country a reference in Latin America regarding the subject.
