Direct Computer Resources, Inc. (DCR) and the Internet Security Alliance (ISA) met with members of the European Commission to Promote World Wide Cyber Security and Information Protection.
DCR’s President Joe Buonomo led a delegation this week from the ISA responding to a request from the European Commission (EC) for assistance in developing apublic private partnership to create a sustainable system of world-wide cyber security and information protection. Joining Mr. Buonomo was ISA President Larry Clinton who had just completed a mission to Estonia sponsored by the US State Department to work with the NATO Cyber Security Center of Excellence which is located in Talin.
The week’s efforts included meetings with Andrea Servida, Deputy Head of Unit A3, Internet, Network and Information Security, Andrea Glorioso, Policy Officer Unit A3, Scientific/Technical Project Officer, Internet: Network and Information Security and Valerie Andrianavaly, Policy Officer Unit A3, Internet: Network and Information Security from the EC as well as discussions with trade associations and corporations from the private sector.
Buonomo stated that “Cyber Security and Information Protection are rapidly becoming issues being more intensively tracked by both the US and European governments as wide-spread hacking and other invasions have reportedly compromised government networks including the US military. Similar incursions conducted either against the military or critical infrastructures could result in substantial physical and economic damage.”
Through its Brussels office, DCR offered its assistance to the ISA in coordinating the response to the EC request. In November, ISA published the “Cyber Security Social Contract” a set of recommendations for the Obama Administration for establishing a sustainable basis for needed public private partnership for cyber security. The Obama Administration cited this publication as well as more than a dozen other ISA documents and white papers when it produced its own “Cyber Space Policy Review” in May. Representatives of the EC, aware of these efforts had requested the ISA meeting. Buonomo serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the ISA.
Clinton said “Central to the ISA Social Contract idea is that it is in the national interest for government to creatively use market incentives to promote better security among the private sector. Since the private sector owns and operates the vast majority of the networks that provide the access to the Internet and other electronic communications, it is critical for the governments to work with the private sector without causing the sort of innovation disincentives that government regulation might create.”
According to the ISA documents, the good news is that as much as 90% of cyber breaches can be successfully mitigated simply by implementing standards, practices and technologies which have already been proven to work. DCR’s DataVantage Global software product is an example of one such technology which is a single, scalable, multi-tier enterprise-wide solution that obfuscates private and confidential information. The patented software, which has recently received Safety Act Designation from the Department of Homeland Security as Qualified Anti-Terrorism Technology, helps government agencies and private sector companies in all industries comply with regulatory standards as well as internal policies while maintaining the integrity of the data for scalable use in applications both throughout and external to an enterprise. The product has been well-received by companies such as Gartner, Inc. and Forrester Research and is recognized as one of the most viable leading information protection solutions available today.
The ISA Social Contract model provides a framework through which governments can facilitate the wide-spread adoption of these technologies or practices by using market forces thus resulting in broadly increased national, and international cyber security and information protection.