A notable public hearing recently took place to examine the impacts of the recent SolarWinds attack. I think we are still at the early stages of even beginning to understand the significance of this cyber breach. Much of the hearing discussion encouraged mandating a federal breach reporting requirement and implementing protective measures to protect companies from liability and reputational harm when they comply. No entity wants only sticks for motivation! Here at NTCA, we will continue to monitor further similar hearings on behalf of the NTCA community and rapidly alert you of further developments, but this hearing – and subsequent press reports of other infrastructure breaches was a great reminder of why our CyberShare program is so important and such a valuable tool to our small network operators.
Our telco participants in the program had almost immediate access to information regarding the SolarWinds attack and mitigation and with their training and clearance were privy to information that NTCA could not share with our membership at large. Additionally, these participants were invited to join a call with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) about the threat and its implications to their networks and to the networks they manage. Now more than ever, it’s important to have a proactive cybersecurity plan in place and to benefit from collaborating with others in the same space, and CyberShare will help you do just that.
I also could not help but notice the headline, ”SolarWinds CEO Says Hack Shows Need for Information-Sharing Between Industry and Government,” since that is exactly what NTCA put in place for our members and the industry almost a year ago when we launched CyberShare. We saw the need for your telecom companies, regardless of size, to have access to cyber security information sharing to help you better prepare for and respond to cybersecurity threats. Our platform continues to gather support and credibility in the security arena and we have a number of our staff devoted to these efforts. We are also always innovating in this space and have some additional benefits to offer to those who participate in the program including access to discounts for cyber insurance and other tools. While sometimes cybersecurity is almost too “scary” to think about, it should be at the top of the agenda for every broadband executive and their boards of directors.
I hope you will consider NTCA your partner in cyber efforts. While we cannot help to reduce attacks, CyberShare can help our members respond to them. Who doesn’t want to sleep a little bit better at night?