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A6 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 22 June 2024
U.N. chief warns of perils of ‘weaponizing digital technologies’ and

malicious activity in cyberspace

By EDITH M. LEDERER costs such intrusions impact
Associated Press peace, security and stability
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The within and among countries.
United Nations chief warned “Malicious activity that un-
Thursday that “the perils of dermines public institutions,
weaponizing digital tech- electoral processes and
nologies are growing by the online integrity erodes trust,
year” and malicious activ- fuels tensions, and even sows
ity in cyberspace is on the the seeds of violence and
rise by governments, non- conflict,” he said.
government actors and Guterres has been calling
criminals. for global efforts to ensure
At the same time, Secretary- that cyberspace and AI are
General Antonio Guterres regulated to ensure they are
said, “the misuse of digital oriented to promoting re-
technology is becoming sponsible behavior of these
more sophisticated and technologies.
stealthy, malware, wipers He has invited leaders of the
and trojans are proliferating” 193 U.N. member nations to
and cyber operations en- a Summit of the Future dur-
abled by artificial intelligence ing their annual gathering
are multiplying the threat. In U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres takes part in a press conference announcing the at the General Assembly in
addition, he warned the U.N. rebranding of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to UN Trade late September, and he told
Security Council that “quan- and Development, marking its 60th anniversary, at the European headquarters of the United the council it “represents a
tum computing could break Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 12, 2024. pivotal chance to support
down entire systems with its Associated Press the maintenance of interna-
ability to breach encryption.” also leaving people, institu- pointed to “a legion of hate ed and ways to achieve this tional peace and security in
On the positive side, Guterres tions and governments vul- merchants littering the infor- are even being sold on the cyberspace.”
said digital advances “are nerable, he said. mation superhighway with Internet. He also welcomed the Gen-
revolutionizing economies Guterres said cybersecu- fear and division” and the in- “Ransomware is one griev- eral Assembly’s consider-
and societies,” not only rity incidents have become creasing use of cyberspace ous example a huge threat ation of “the applicability
bringing people together “disturbingly common” from as a weapon in conflicts. to public and private insti- of international law to state
but delivering news, infor- disruptions to health, banking “And the growing integration tutions and the critical in- activities in this domain,” and
mation and education and and telecommunications ser- of digital tools with weapon frastructure people depend its efforts to reach consensus
enabling citizens to access vices to “relentless illicit ac- systems, including autono- on,” he said. “According to on a new cybercrime treaty
government services and tivity” including by criminal mous systems, presents new some estimates, total ran- in the coming months “which
institutions. organizations and so-called vulnerabilities,” he said. somware payments reached should deepen cooperation
But instant connectivity that “cyber-mercenaries.” Guterres said software vul- $1.1 billion in 2023.” But the while protecting human
powers enormous benefits is The secretary-general also nerabilities are being exploit- U.N. chief said beyond these rights online.” q

4 members of a billionaire family get prison in Switzerland for

exploiting domestic workers

By JAMEY KEATEN tenced to prison on Friday them from going out and Robert Assael, a lawyer for a platinum necklace and
Associated Press for exploiting domestic making them work up to 18 Kamal Hinduja, said he was other jewelry and assets
GENEVA (AP) — An Indian- workers at their lakeside hours a day. “relieved” that the court in anticipation that they
born billionaire and three villa in Switzerland by seiz- A Swiss court dismissed threw out the trafficking could be used to pay for le-
family members were sen- ing their passports, barring more serious charges of charges but called the sen- gal fees and possible pen-
human trafficking against tence excessive. alties.
79-year-old tycoon Prakash “The health of our clients is Along with three brothers,
Hinduja; his wife, Kamal; very poor, they are elderly Prakash Hinduja leads an
son Ajay and daughter- people,” he said, explain- industrial conglomerate in
in-law Namrata on the ing why the family was not sectors including informa-
grounds that the work- in court. He said Hinduja’s tion technology, media,
ers understood what they 75-year-old wife was in in- power, real estate and
were getting into, at least in tensive care and the family health care. Forbes maga-
part. The four received be- was with her. zine has put the Hinduja
tween four and 4 1/2 years A fifth defendant Najib Zi- family’s net worth at some
in prison. azi, the family’s business $20 billion.
The workers were mostly il- manager received an The family set up residence
literate Indians who were 18-month suspended sen- in Switzerland in the 1980s,
paid not in Swiss francs but tence. and Hinduja was convicted
in Indian rupees, deposited Last week, it emerged in in 2007 on similar charges. A
in banks back home that court that the family had separate tax case brought
Lawyers of the accused, Nicolas Jeandin, left, and Robert
Assael, right, leave the court house after a break in the reading they couldn’t access. reached an undisclosed by Swiss authorities is pend-
of the verdict, during the trial against members of the billionaire Lawyers representing the settlement with the plain- ing against Hinduja, who
Hinduja family, in Geneva, Switzerland, Friday June 21, 2024. defendants said they tiffs. Swiss authorities have obtained Swiss citizenship
Associated Press would appeal. seized diamonds, rubies, in 2000.q