Highlighting recent estimates that cyber-crime costs could rise to nearly 23 trillion dollars world-wide by 2027, ISA President called for an intensified public private partnership at the Aliv Central American Cybersecurity Summit in Nassau Bahamas this week.
The Aliv Summit is one of the most widely attended cyber meetings in the region and Clinton used the event to stress the need for companies in the region to become more engaged in collaborative efforts on cyber security.
“While it may be true that the nature of the relationships between government and industry may change –they actually need to change — the real question is will the private sector companies in the region be more active participants in the process,” Clinton said.
Echoing Kemba Walden, the Conference Keynote speaker and Bahamian native’s call for a radical engagement, Clinton pointed out that the private sector has more resources, more personnel, and in many cases information that government does.
“We cannot simply sit back and wait for the government to give us a plan. We need creative solutions to address the growing cyber threat particularly in less well developed — and highly targeted regions. It is the private sector that is the birthplace of innovation and creativity and we need to more aggressively engage with our government partners brining new ideas and methods to the fight.”
Clinton offered the work the ISA has done with the Organization of American States to adapt the principles for cyber risk oversight initially developed by ISA with the National Association of Corporate Directors as a model. “These principles, developed collaboratively between government and industry, are the only set of best practices that have been independently assessed and found to enhance cybersecurity and have been cited as the “de facto standard” for international cyber risk oversight. We need more of this”, Clinton said.
Clinton’s presentation to the Aliv Conference is part of a week-long tour of the region sponsored by the US State Department including 9 events designed to educate and promote cybersecurity in the region.
