WASHINGTON, D.C. – The NATO Communications and Information (NCI) Agency and FireEye, Inc. signed on 15 December an Industry Partnership Agreement (IPA) on cyber information sharing, further strengthening NATO and industry collective cyber defence.
The agreement will foster timely information sharing on cyber threats, allowing both parties to enhance situational awareness and better protect their networks. In practice it will facilitate rapid and early bilateral exchange of non-classified technical information related to cyber threats and vulnerabilities. This information will be integrated into the NCI Agency's 24/7 detection and prevention processes further enhancing NATO's cyber security posture.
"If we are going to move faster than the cyber threats we face, then it is absolutely imperative that we exchange timely and actionable threat information with industry," said MGEN (ret.) Koen Gijsbers, General Manager of the NCI Agency. "Our existing IPAs have already shown impressive results that are making a real difference to the NCI Agency and our industry partners. FireEye's depth of expertise from responding to many of the largest cyber breaches in the world will be very valuable to the IPA framework. We look forward to a productive partnership."
"Public and private sector organizations face the same challenge of managing a large number of low-fidelity data and alerts from traditional security offerings like next generation firewalls, endpoint, and intrusion prevention systems – masking real threats and slowing response," said Tony Cole, Vice President and global government Chief Technology Officer, FireEye. "In forming an information sharing partnership with NATO, we add additional visibility to FireEye iSIGHT Intelligence that helps protect our customers and offer high-fidelity intelligence that enables better threat detection and faster response on NATO's networks and systems."
NATO Industry Cyber Partnership
Following NATO's Warsaw Summit earlier this year, where Alliance leaders emphasized the need for information sharing and strong industry partnerships to address cyber challenges, the agreement bolsters further a programme that is already benefitting NATO and industry.
The IPA with FireEye is the ninth in a series of agreements through which the NCI Agency and industry partners generate high-quality data resulting in a mutually improved ability to detect, prevent, and respond to cyber threats.
The agreement with FireEye represents an important part of the effort to bolster the Alliance's cyber defence posture through the NATO Industry Cyber Partnership (NICP). Alliance Heads of State and Government endorsed the NICP in 2014 to pave the way for collaboration with the private sector in addressing cyber threats and risks. For more information, visit www.nicp.nato.int.