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Jeff Moss Goes to Moscow

18 May 2012
By
Veni Markovski

Veni Markovski

VP, Government Engagement - UN NY and Interim Head of Government and IGO Engagement

Veni Markovski is based in New York, and is responsible for the relations with the United Nations, the UN Agencies in New York, and the Permanent Missions to the United Nations.

Veni Markovski has graduated law, but before that, back in September 1990 he started his work on the Internet, as a system operator of the first Sofia-based bulletin-board system, part of FidoNet.
In 1993 Mr. Markovski formed with another of the Bulgarian Internet pioneers, Mr. Dimitar Ganchev, their company - bol.bg, the first commercial Internet service provider in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Veni Markovski was President and CEO of bol.bg for nine years. The two owners sold the company successfully in 2008 to an international investment fund
In 1995 he co-founded the Bulgarian Internet Society, a non-profit, of which he serves as President and chairman of the Board.
In March 2002 Mr. Markovski was appointed as Chairman of the Bulgarian President's IT Advisory Council, a position he held until the President stepped down from office at the end of his second term on January 22, 2012.
In 2005 he was invited to be the senior international projects adviser to the chairman of the governmental Agency for Information Technologies and communications, a position that he held until 2009. He was also adviser to the Bulgarian national cybersecurity coordinator from 2009 till 2013.

Since the beginning of his career, Veni has been involved in different international organizations and programs on different levels - as project manager, adviser, senior adviser, advocate for policy changes, mediator, board member, etc. He has served on the Boards of CPSR, ISOC, ICANN, among others.
Widely recognized as a computer geek and expert in cyber, Mr. Markovski is a frequent speaker at international conferences, and is often being approached for advice by companies, organizations, and governments.

ICANN’s vice president and CSO, Jeff Moss, visited Moscow for the 3rd Russian Internet Governance Forum.

He was the keynote speaker at the Russian IGF, but the local organizers, the Russian Coordination Center for the .ru ccTLD decided to use him even more, and invited Jeff also to join a panel discussion on DDoS attacks, with Natalia Kaspersky and Andrea Rigoni.

At the panel, Jeff spoke after some other prominent panelist, who discussed the topic “Combat with cybercrime: cooperation and collective initiatives” – like Michel Moren, Acting Assistant Deputy Director, INTERPOL and Alexey Moshkov, Head of the Bureau for Special Technical Measures of Department “K” of the Ministry of Interior of Russian Federation, Police Major General. Full program of the event (in English) is at their web site.

After the panel was over, and without giving Jeff a break, the Minister of telecom and mass communications, I.O. Schegolev, invited Jeff to officially open the 23rd international exhibition SvyazExpoCom. Jeff was in a good company – besides the Russian minister, the other dignitaries, who spoke at the opening of the exhibition included Slovenian member of the cabinet Ziga Turk, ITU deputy Secretary-General Houlin Zhao, and the deputy-chairman of the Russian Chamber of Commerce Vladimir Strashko. Interesting moment, and hardly with equivalent, was that Jeff’s speech was translated by the deputy-minister of communications (sic!).

Jeff Moss

After the opening of the exhibition, Jeff was rushed back to the main plenary hall, where hundreds of people were patiently waiting to hear his keynote (video to be posted soon).

I won’t write here about the presentation, but will note that after it was over, we had a number of meetings, one after the other, until late at night, with people from across the Internet specter – from law-enforcement, through academia, through business and non-profit, and government representatives.

Here’s what the CEO of the Russian Coordination Center for the .ru ccTLD, Andrei Kolesnikov, wrote about Jeff’s presentation and interaction with the participants at the event:

“Having spoken with a number of our guests, including government representatives and professionals, I am pleased to let you know everyone cited your presentation as a candid and provocative account which helped raise awareness of critical challenges in the cybersecurity area and ways to address them.”

I can also confirm that this opinion was indeed shared by many.

The Russians now want Jeff to visit again, and not only for a one day stay, but to stay longer. Some are already asking if he could join, in 2013, the 16th Russian Internet Forum, or the 20th Relarn Internet geeks boat cruise on the Volga river.

I am thinking, “Maybe I should recommend him to take part in both!”

Authors

Veni Markovski

Veni Markovski

VP, Government Engagement - UN NY and Interim Head of Government and IGO Engagement
Veni Markovski

Veni Markovski

VP, Government Engagement - UN NY and Interim Head of Government and IGO Engagement

Veni Markovski is based in New York, and is responsible for the relations with the United Nations, the UN Agencies in New York, and the Permanent Missions to the United Nations.

Veni Markovski has graduated law, but before that, back in September 1990 he started his work on the Internet, as a system operator of the first Sofia-based bulletin-board system, part of FidoNet.
In 1993 Mr. Markovski formed with another of the Bulgarian Internet pioneers, Mr. Dimitar Ganchev, their company - bol.bg, the first commercial Internet service provider in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Veni Markovski was President and CEO of bol.bg for nine years. The two owners sold the company successfully in 2008 to an international investment fund
In 1995 he co-founded the Bulgarian Internet Society, a non-profit, of which he serves as President and chairman of the Board.
In March 2002 Mr. Markovski was appointed as Chairman of the Bulgarian President's IT Advisory Council, a position he held until the President stepped down from office at the end of his second term on January 22, 2012.
In 2005 he was invited to be the senior international projects adviser to the chairman of the governmental Agency for Information Technologies and communications, a position that he held until 2009. He was also adviser to the Bulgarian national cybersecurity coordinator from 2009 till 2013.

Since the beginning of his career, Veni has been involved in different international organizations and programs on different levels - as project manager, adviser, senior adviser, advocate for policy changes, mediator, board member, etc. He has served on the Boards of CPSR, ISOC, ICANN, among others.
Widely recognized as a computer geek and expert in cyber, Mr. Markovski is a frequent speaker at international conferences, and is often being approached for advice by companies, organizations, and governments.

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