Announcing the Partnership of the Cyber Readiness Index and the International Telecommunication Union

WASHINGTON, June 15, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies (PIPS) is pleased to announce a new partnership between the PIPS' Cyber Readiness Index 2.0 (CRI) project and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). As part of this ongoing partnership, the CRI team will provide subject-matter expertise for the ITU Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI)—a multi-stakeholder initiative to measure the commitment of countries to cybersecurity. The CRI team will also work in tandem with the ITU and other international partners to develop a National Cybersecurity Strategy (NCS) Reference Guide meant to help countries elaborate or further enhance their respective NCS.

As Melissa Hathaway, CRI leading author, explains: "developing a comprehensive national cybersecurity strategy should start with aligning a country's economic vision with its national security imperatives." The CRI 2.0 shows that few countries have aligned their digital agenda with their cybersecurity agenda, and seeks to incentivize this alignment by bringing attention to each country's Internet-infrastructure dependencies and vulnerabilities, and the national economic erosion caused by cyber insecurity. The CRI provides a comprehensive, comparative, experience-based methodology to assess a country's commitment and maturity to closing the gap between its current cybersecurity posture and the national cyber capabilities needed to support its digital future.

The CRI 2.0 builds on the Cyber Readiness Index 1.0 and uses over seventy unique indicators across seven essential elements to discern operationally ready activities and identify areas for improvement in the following categories: national strategy, incident response, e-crime and law enforcement, information sharing, investment in research and development, diplomacy and trade, and defense and crisis response. The CRI is available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish, and is currently being applied to 125 countries.

Ms. Hathaway is a PIPS Senior Fellow and member of the Board of Regents. She led cybersecurity initiatives for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama until August 2009, when she left to establish Hathaway Global Strategies, LLC.  The CRI team additionally includes Chris Demchak, Jason Kerben, Jennifer McArdle, and Francesca Spidalieri.

The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies is an independent, 501(c)(3), not-for-profit public policy research institute. The Institute identifies and shepherds discussion on key science and technology issues facing society. From these discussions, PIPS develops meaningful policy options and ensures their implementation at the intersection of business and government.

For media inquiries, contact the Cyber Readiness Index team at: [email protected] or 703-525-0770.

Follow us on Twitter: @CyberReadyIndex

SOURCE Potomac Institute for Policy Studies

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