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GCHQ to help business with cyber security
One of the three government security services, GCHQ, is today launching a programme that aims to help business leaders tackle the growing threat of cyber attacks.
The programme, dubbed Cyber Security for Business, is the first time that the government and intelligence services have co-operated directly with the private sector, and GCHQ will focus on showing businesses how best to bolster their cyber defences and reduce risks through prevention methods.
GCHQ head Iain Lobban will tell business leaders that current confidence in existing security defences is often misplaced, with potentially major implications for the economy and customers' trust in online services. He will also ask board members and chief executives how confident they are that their most important corporate information is safe from cyber threats and whether they are aware of the impact on a company's reputation, share price or even existence if sensitive information is stolen.
Ross Brewer, vice president and managing director for international markets, LogRhythm, made the following comments: "GCHQ is right to suggest that businesses are lulled into a false sense of security by existing defences.
"In spite of recent high profile hacks and increased ICO heavy-handedness, many businesses – particularly those in the private sector – seem to be suffering from data security indifference, either failing to take the severity of the threat on board, or assuming that they are adequately protected by their age old security mechanisms. However, when the unthinkable does happen – and they fall victim to a breach – they soon realise how woefully unprepared they were.
Frank Coggrave, General Manager, EMEA, Guidance Software said: "The news that GCHQ will be working alongside the private sector to help combat cyber attacks is to be welcomed. The next step, however, is to ensure that these collaborations enable an efficient and swift response to the attacks that we face today.
"The perpetrators of cyber attacks are reactive and fast, therefore any partnership that we create has to be just as dynamic in order to defend effectively. The proposed "Top 20 Critical Controls for Effective Cyber Defence" may help to reinforce the importance of security processes, however putting together a list of rules that get reviewed and updated every year isn't going to help.
"Cyber criminals will always find ways around them. Therefore the focus of this collaboration must be on forming a partnership that allows for swift reactions, information sharing and a reduced time between detection of an attack and response."
