Security is a unique industry. Commercial security companies compete with one another, yet we are united by a shared calling to reduce harm and defeat cyber criminals.
To win that fight, the security industry must be better coordinated and organized in how we collaborate. It takes partnership across the private and public sectors to stay ahead of a rapidly evolving threat landscape and ensure that security doesn’t just protect, but also advances, our businesses and economy, rather than slowing progress.
Historically, collaboration between the government and our industry has been more reactive and event-driven rather than strategically proactive. While we and many other security companies have built strong relationships with government agencies, there was a lack of consistency and structure in how we all worked together – from differing priorities, to the classification of data, to understanding the type of information that offers true value to each other. In short, the foundational success factors were not in place.
As a result, we gave adversaries—who are coordinated and organized with each other—the upper hand. They were winning simply because they took advantage of this siloed approach to cyber defense.
That’s changing. This is no more apparent than in the formation of the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) led by U.S. Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Secureworks is honored to be a participatory member. The JCDC represents a unified vision of securing our national infrastructure through mutual collaboration, with a shared focus on action and impactful outcomes for all of us.
The recent attacks on the United States’ infrastructure in the last year have prompted renewed urgency and intentionality in how we collaborate, creating a new tone of community with the current U.S. cybersecurity leadership. CISA Director Jen Easterly, National Cyber Director Chris Inglis, Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger, and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas – among the most prominent cybersecurity leaders in the United States federal government – are taking the initiative to find a better and more productive way to partner with the private sector and beat the adversary together.
This level of collaboration and sharing helps us to better protect our customers, which in turn supports the ultimate goal of hardening our economy and our nation against cyber threats. It’s a virtuous cycle.
At the commercial level, we too have a role to play. While the government offers broad visibility of threats across all industries, we at Secureworks have deep visibility of global customer networks combined with expert threat research. With our insights, we can share emerging trends of threat actors’ tactics, techniques, and procedures in addition to our awareness of emerging areas of attack.
Is there more work to be done? Absolutely. Collaboration at this level, and with stakes this high, will always evolve and present new challenges. But I am encouraged by the conversation, and the actions taken so far to open the lines of communication.
We are engaged in a fight we cannot afford to lose. The mutual collaboration between the public and private sector in the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative is a crucial step forward. Secureworks is proud to join with government and our fellow members of the business community to take the battle to the adversary and secure human progress.