Cybersecurity should never become Achilles' heel in Internet development

BEIJING - In an era when cyberspace has become a domain so important as land, sea, the sky and outer space, cybersecurity should be safeguarded by all countries around the world, or it could become an Achilles' heel in the development of the Internet.

Thanks to the acceleration of global informationization, the Internet has infiltrated into almost every aspect of human life, bringing unparalleled connectivity, creativity and productivity into our society.

However, the cyberspace is far from safe, as all kinds of cybercrimes, like the fanatical propaganda of the Islamic State in the cyberspace, are still rampant.

For China alone, the first nine months of 2015 had witnessed more than 80,000 cybersecurity incidents in its territory, such as malware, defacement, backdoor and phishing, up 124 percent year on year, according to a latest report from China's National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Center.

No wonder the upcoming second World Internet Conference, to be held in Wuzhen in East China's Zhejiang province from Wednesday to Friday with the participation of Chinese President Xi Jinping and 2,000 other representatives from over 120 countries and regions, has reserved a whole morning for this topic with a closed-door high-level meeting.

The annual brain-storm gala for Internet elites and high-ranking officials is expected to offer more sparks of wisdom for the designing of a firewall to safeguard international cybersecurity. However, before they open their prologue, there are two things they should bear in mind.

First, the almighty warrior Achilles was killed for his unblessed heel. Our Internet, though seemingly as mighty as Achilles for its broadness and powerfulness, has more other one heel that is unprotected, among which, the cybersecurity is the weakest. If they want to do something, they better do it now.

Second, cybersecurity should never become another farce of China threat. Cybercrime is a common enemy of all countries all over the world. If certain power from West decides to seek cyber hegemony by portraying others as scapegoat for its own technological arrogance and zero-sum mindset, it is squandering hard-won mutual trust among different cyber communities around the globe, putting the common destiny of cyberspace in danger.

The poisonous arrow shot by cyber criminals is around the corner, if we don't want to see another fall of giant Achilles, we better act now for a pre-alerting mechanism. The second World Internet Conference in Wuzhen maybe a good start.