Video: After Sony Hack, Kevin Rudd Urges Democracies to Consider Cyber-Readiness

Appearing on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” yesterday, Kevin Rudd, incoming President of the Asia Society Policy Institute, said North Korea’s alleged cyber-attack on Sony Pictures should prompt “a global learning exercise about where these attacks could happen in the future and what should be the response by democracies.”

“If a regime gets upset in the future and decides to target a piece of critical infrastructure, what then happens? This is why the whole debate about cybersecurity is fundamental not just for corporate America and the corporate world but for governments as well,” Rudd said.

The cyber-attack on Sony, Rudd said, is “a very timely reminder of how ugly things could get with various regimes around the world.”

Asked for his take on this week’s hostage situation in Sydney, Australia, Rudd said that Australia had experienced a “remarkable binding together” of its public.

“The Australian community responded by saying, ‘Let’s not be in the business of stigmatizing the half-million Australian Muslims we have. Let’s put our arm around them.’ And the Muslim community have stood up and condemned this [attack] unequivocally.”