SolarWinds, Microsoft, Target, Marriot….the list of CyberSecurity breaches of international proportions has only accelerated over the past few years and then a Pandemic hit! Here at NTCA, we started our CyberShare product as a pilot project 5 years ago, ahead of the curve in terms of thinking about the tools that would be key to our NTCA membership. We now have a robust team focused this critical network topic and have developed some key partnerships with leaders in this space for while I think there is much to share in this arena, I certainly could not say it better than Roxanna Barboza, our Industry and Cybersecurity Policy Analyst who shared the following message with our members this morning:
One year ago, entire businesses switched to remote work due to COVID-19 and cybercriminals took advantage of lapses in security. The pandemic gave cybercriminals the opportunity to discover new malware families, successful new tactics, and “double extortion” strategies. And since then, they have further honed their skills to exploit fear, gather intelligence, and attack.If this sounds like the trailer for a horror film you have no interest in seeing, I promise you, the possible impacts of a cyber breach are much more frightening. That is why NTCA is helping members protect their data and assets by raising awareness and offering tools to help you employ a risk-management approach to cybersecurity.
Members are encouraged to join CyberShare: The Small Broadband Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC). Managed by NTCA, CyberShare promotes the resiliency and continuity of your networks by collecting and disseminating real-time threat information, indicators and mitigation strategies from a variety of public and private sources and facilitates communications among participants. Working closely with industry partners, the federal government and other stakeholders, CyberShare: The Small Broadband ISAC helps small broadband providers recognize, analyze and respond to vulnerabilities, threats and other risks.To further help your company improve its cybersecurity posture, we also recently announced several exciting new programs and features with your needs in mind:
First, NTCA announced that CyberShare has joined the National Council of Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (NCI), building upon the cybersecurity product we created in 2020 after running a successful pilot program partially funded by an award from the Department of Homeland Security that was managed by the National Institute of Hometown Security. Recognition by NCI will strengthen our work by creating several new strategic partnerships with critical infrastructure owners and operators, including electric and water systems, who are equally committed to protecting their facilities, personnel and customers from cyber and physical security threats.
Second, we have added a valuable new feature to CyberShare by partnering with SecurityScorecard, the global leader in security ratings, to provide participants complimentary access to the SecurityScorecard Cybersecurity Risk Ratings platform to monitor the security risk of their own organization and up to five companies they rely on to run their businesses. Ninety-three percent of CyberShare participants say the information they have received through the program enhances their situational awareness about the threat of bad actors targeting their network(s) and assets, and the SecurityScorecard provides yet another tool understand the cyber posture of your own environments as well as the suppliers you rely on to run your businesses.
Finally, we are introducing the NTCA Cybersecurity Series, a comprehensive guide consisting of four components designed to help telco executives, board officers and operational staff develop a risk-management approach to cybersecurity. These components are designed to work together to help improve cybersecurity practices and will complement a series of free webinars for NTCA members held throughout 2021, beginning on April 21.
More information about the series, including webinar dates, is available on our website.We all know cybercrime is costly for small businesses—in actual money and personal capital. NTCA is committed to being a key partner to you in the fight against cyberattacks on our country’s critical communications infrastructure. We are proud of our CyberShare program and hope to see more members take advantage of it and the other educational resources we offer. Don’t let this horror movie be next up in your streaming queue!
