NATO welcomes a new Industry partner in its fight against cyber threats. The NATO Communications and Information (NCI) Agency and Proximus signed on 16 February 2017 an Industry Partnership Agreement (IPA) on cyber information sharing.
This agreement is the tenth in a series of agreements between the Alliance and leading Industry partners, aiming at improving both parties' ability to detect, prevent and respond to cyber threats quickly.
The agreement with Proximus will foster timely information sharing on cyber threats, allowing both NATO and the Belgium telecommunications company to boost their situational awareness and better protect their networks.
"NATO and Industry defences against common cyber threats are stronger because of these agreements," said MGEN (ret.) Koen Gijsbers, General Manager of the NCI Agency.
"Through our information-sharing programme, hundreds of indicators of compromise (IOC) have been shared between NATO and our Industry partners, and the pace of exchanges continues to grow. As a company that is forward-leaning on the creation of information exchange platforms to foster new solutions for the digital age, Proximus will be a valuable partner on cyber defence through our IPA framework."
Dominique Leroy, CEO of Proximus added: "To build trust in our digital economy, it's important that all actors continue to raise the cyber resilience. Today's threat actors are global and sophisticated cyber threats are rapidly increasing. In such context, trustworthy collaboration between major players is key.
That's why this cyber partnership between NATO and Proximus will help both organizations to better protect their customers and critical infrastructure."
In practice, the agreement 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 Agency's 24/7 detection and prevention processes enhancing further NATO's cyber security posture.
NATO INDUSTRY CYBER PARTNERSHIP
At NATO's 2016 Warsaw Summit, Alliance leaders emphasized the need for information sharing and strong Industry partnerships to address cyber challenges.
The agreement with Proximus represents an important part of the effort to strengthen 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.