Andrey Ochepovsky, Senior Public Affairs Manager, Kaspersky
In 2025, Kaspersky’s global engagements were best highlighted by the organization obtaining ITU-D Sector Membership. Through this new partnership, the company joined over 300 entities worldwide, including representatives from the corporate sector, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations, as well as regional and national associations. Kaspersky has already participated in several of ITU’s flagship events, and the company is looking forward to further expanding its cooperation with the Union in 2026.
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Established in 1865, the International Telecommunication Union is rightfully considered one of the oldest active international organizations. Throughout more than 160 years of its operation, the Union’s mandate has drastically transformed from telegraph communication to the whole spectrum of digital technologies that we use in our modern world.
Today, the ITU is made up of a membership of 194 countries and over 1000 companies, universities and international and regional organizations with its work being largely divided into three major areas: Radiocommunication (ITU-R; responsible for managing the radio-frequency spectrum), Standardization (ITU-T; focused on aligning international telecom and digital standards with sustainable development) and Development (ITU-D; focused on bridging digital divides, fostering digital skills, as well as helping countries upgrade their regulatory frameworks and infrastructure). Moreover, the Union enjoys onsite-representation (through the network of regional and area offices) all around the globe.
As a result, nowadays, the ITU can be rightfully regarded as a unique global platform for comprehensive dialogue and cooperation on ICT-related issues. Its major events, including the Global Symposiums for Regulators (GSR) and World Telecommunication Development Conferences (WTDC), assemble high-level officials, representatives from leading ICT companies and associations, as well as members of academia. For example, WTDC-2025 in Baku (November) gathered over 2,000 registered participants from more than 150 countries.
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Since 2024, Kaspersky has been a regular contributor to the discussion held by the ITU’s Council Working Group on child online protection (CWG-COP) sharing the company’s best practices in promoting cyber hygiene among kids, their parents and teachers. During the 23rd meeting (September 2025), we highlighted the importance of ‘speaking the same language’ with the young generation – both in linguistic (through translation of educational materials in native languages) and technological (through the use of innovative solutions like videogames) ways.
Obtaining ITU-D Sector Membership has significantly increased opportunities for Kaspersky to cooperate with the Union. The company has already attended the aforementioned WTDC-2025 as well as GSR-2025 in Riyadh (September), having held fruitful meetings with the Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau Mr. Cosmas Zavazava, as well as with the leadership of several national regulators. All of those engagements have reaffirmed the alignment of priorities in the field of cybersecurity in the context of rapid digital development.
Specifically, Kaspersky could contribute to the work of the ITU in a number of ways using a wide range of tools available at its disposal. Below are highlighted some of potential areas of collaboration:
Cyber capacity building. Kaspersky has developed (and constantly updates) a broad portfolio of training courses aimed at improving the skills of cybersecurity specialists in both the government and private sectors.
Child online protection. Kaspersky annually organizes 100+ online and offline events (workshops, webinars, online lessons, roundtables, etc.) worldwide for children, parents and educators, both independently and in collaboration with partners. The company also regularly publishes and updates educational materials for all groups involved (among recent releases – Parents' handbook for a kids’ first gadget as well as Digital Schoolbag: A Parent’s Guide for the School Year).
Women in cybersecurity. The ITU pays particular attention to empowering women in cybersecurity – including through its Her CyberTracks initiative. From Kaspersky’s side, it has launched an innovative, science-backed career orientation test Future You in Tech in collaboration with its partners – Smart Africa and Africaines in Tech. This test is designed to promote professional development for young women in the cybersecurity industry and help remove potential entry barriers, guiding participants through scenarios that reveal their natural problem-solving styles and strengths.
There is no doubt that cooperation on these topics, as well as in other potential areas of mutual interest, could make a sizeable contribution to the ITU’s two major goals set out in its Strategic Plan for 2024-2027: promoting and enhancing sustainable digital transformation, and enabling and fostering universal access to secure ICTs.
