OSCE Study Visit in Switzerland Strengthened Confidence-Building on Cyber/ICT Security

From 28 September to 2 October 2026, the OSCE Transnational Threats Department organized a study visit to Switzerland for policy and technical national Points of Contact nominated in line with cyber/ICT security confidence-building measure (CBM) No. 8. The event brought together 29 representatives of Central Asia, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Mongolia.

As cyber threats increasingly transcend national borders, building trust and strengthening co-operation between participating States are essential to reducing the risk of misunderstandings and tensions in cyberspace. The visit provided a platform for participants to exchange experiences, share good practices and discuss national approaches to implementing CBMs. By strengthening the CBM 8 Points of Contact network as a community of policymakers and technical experts, the OSCE supported closer co-operation among national institutions and reinforced regional efforts to promote cyber stability.

The programme in Zug included participation in a meeting of the Informal Working Group established by PC Decision 1039 and the 2026 OSCE Chairpersonship Conference on “De-escalation in cyberspace: mediation and preventive diplomacy”. These activities enabled participants to discuss international cyber security developments and exchange practical experiences in implementing OSCE cyber/ICT security CBMs.

On 1 and 2 October, participants took part in a two-day workshop in Zurich focused on mapping CBM implementation, the protection of critical infrastructure and emerging technologies.

“The idea of confidence-building measures is to share information, understand one another’s approaches and, more generally, keep channels of communication open. Strengthening resilience is increasingly important, therefore, CBM 15 encourages co-operation to protect critical infrastructure,” said Darius Rahimi-Laridjani, Director for Arms Control, Non-Proliferation and OSCE at German Federal Foreign Office.

Through a scenario-based discussion, participants considered a fictional international cyber incident and explored mitigation and co-ordination measures at different stages of the incident. The workshop provided participants with an opportunity to share national experiences and identify possible gaps and areas for further strengthening the CBM process.

“Cyber confidence-building measures should be like a Swiss army knife in your pocket: familiar, operational and ready to use when you need them,” said Leila Rais, Head of Politico-Military Dimension at the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the OSCE, the UN and other international organizations in Vienna and Representative of the OSCE Chairpersonship-in-Office. “We may not yet fully understand the technologies that are coming, but we can already ask what they will mean for the tools we rely on to prevent escalation,” she added.

The programme also included a site visit to Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), where resident experts presented their work on cyber/ICT security and emerging technologies. The visit concluded with expert presentations and discussions on the protection of complex digital ecosystems, open-source software and critical infrastructure, as well as the cybersecurity implications of frontier AI models.

The study visit was organized under the OSCE extrabudgetary project “Strengthening the work of the CBM 8 Points of Contact crisis communication network”, with financial support from Germany.