UN net meeting 'hit by hackers' causing website disruption

A UN conference to discuss the future of internet governance has been disrupted by a suspected hacking attack.

The World Conference on International Telecommunications (Wcit) is debating changes to a wide-ranging communications treaty.

Delegates were unable to access material relating to the meeting after its website was forced offline.

Hacker groups had claimed responsibility, organisers said.

The UN's International Telecommunications Union (ITU) said delegates had been left "frustrated" by the disruption, which lasted for about two hours on Wednesday.

"However, a spirit of camaraderie prevailed," it said in a statement. "With those who had access to up-to-date online versions of the texts willingly sharing with other delegates in order to keep discussions moving forward."

Deep packet

ITU Secretary General Hamadoun Toure criticised those responsible for the downtime.

"It is ironic that the very people who claim to be fighting for a free internet are preventing those around the world trying to follow the event online from getting access," he said.

"Do they believe in one rule for them, and one for everyone else?"

The apparent hack attack follows the ITU's approval of a new standard for deep packet inspection - a technique that can be used to access sensitive data within communications made over the internet.

The Center for Democracy & Technology expressed concern at its approval.

"The telecommunications standards arm of the UN has quietly endorsed the standardisation of technologies that could give governments and companies the ability to sift through all of an internet user's traffic - including emails, banking transactions, and voice calls - without adequate privacy safeguards," the group said in a statement.

"The move suggests that some governments hope for a world where even encrypted communications may not be safe from prying eyes."

- BBC