Trend Micro and the International Cybersecurity Protection Alliance to Establish "Global Cyber Nation" in Washington D.C.

In the wake of GhostClick, national cyber-protection should look "more like cloud computing and less like a bunker."

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Nov 28, 2011, 02:26 ET

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Trend Micro, Inc. (TYO:4704; TSE:4704), a global cloud security leader, today announced that it will help to formally establish a "global cyber nation" to coordinate the international fight against cybercrime, at a government-supported round-table event to be held in Washington D.C., on 29th November 2011.The event follows the London Conference on Cyberspace and the recent FBI GhostClick operation, which saw international agencies working together to bring down the biggest cybercrime operation in history.

Trend Micro is one of the principal sponsors and founding members of the ICSPA (International Cyber Security Protection Alliance), which is leading the event. ICSPA is chaired by the Rt Hon David Blunkett, M.P. and was established with the support of the UK government to work alongside other governments and law enforcement organisations worldwide, to exchange expertise in the fight against cyber-threats. At the time of its launch in July 2011, it was described by British Prime Minister David Cameron as "a network powerful enough and wide enough to face down cybercrime."

In line with Cameron's comments, the central theme of the Washington event is that the range of cyber-threats that now exist, and the breadth of targets they seek (banks, pharmaceutical, aerospace and defence industries, intellectual property, citizen data, and financial data), is simply too extensive to be managed using country-specific defences. Instead, what is required is outreach and engagement to involve all friendly countries in a truly internationalised, federated defence of cyberspace.

John Lyons, CEO, ICSPA, said "We have called the round table Nation Building in Cyberspace, because if we're all just 'independent republics of' then our defences are like a bunker – isolated, unconnected, useless against something like GhostClick, for example. The protection of the global cyber nation needs to look a lot more like the cloud computing model - interconnected at every level, cross-boundary, perimeterless. This gives each member country a powerful, broad stake in the defence of the realm as a whole."

The event follows a number of other recent international ICSPA initiatives. These have included their partnership with the Commonwealth's 'Comnet,' which developed the Commonwealth Cybercrime Initiative that was recently approved by the 54 heads of Commonwealth Governments. They have also included the London Conference on Cyberspace, hosted by the Rt Hon William Hague, M.P., and attended by government delegates from over 60 nations.

Speaker topics from the Washington D.C. round table are currently listed, among others, as:

"The critical nature of international law enforcement cooperation in cyberspace" – U.S. Department of Justice
"The US international strategy for cyberspace" - U.S. Department of State
"The legislative & jurisdictional challenges to international engagement" – Harriet Pearson, Vice President, Security Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer, IBM Corporation"
A global threat heat picture" – Tony Larks, Vice President EMEA Marketing, Trend Micro
"The role of innovation in enhancing security" - Harry Wingo, Senior Policy Counsel, Google Inc.

The Rt Hon David Blunkett, M.P., commented: "The global interconnectivity that binds us together in our desire to trade, to communicate, to grow our businesses and to benefit the societies in which we operate, requires us all to be more outward looking and less parochial. If we are to see a sustainable improvement in our national defensive cyber-capability we must help other countries to raise their effectiveness in cyberspace and assist them in a truly collaborative effort."

The event comes in the online shopping frenzy that precedes Christmas, which is once again expected to form a major focus for organised, cross-border cybercriminal activity. Figures from IDC show that there are rich pickings to be had for the malefactors; from a survey of consumers in the U.S., it was found that:

The average online shopper spends $400 a year on goods of various kinds.
Computers, consumer electronics, toys and apparel are the top four items bought online.
Two of the most commonly phished sites are eBay and PayPal.

Each transaction is a potential mine of valuable personal and financial information for the cybercriminal.

Anthony O'Mara, Senior Vice President, Trend Micro EMEA, commented: "The UK government has committed significant further resources to its cyber-strategy, and we applaud this domestic initiative. But we also have to ensure that the fight against cybercrime is truly international - and this is an epic challenge, with many governments worldwide deploying austerity budgets. So we stand shoulder to shoulder with ICSPA in its bid to work with international governments and agencies to ensure that resources are pooled and knowledge shared, to create a unified, worldwide defense force capable of protecting the global cyber nation."

Thomas Miller, president, Trend Micro U.S., added: "For as far back as nations have existed, they have formed alliances to help counter the threat from forces both within and outside their borders. This new global cyber nation inflects that tradition for a new era – one in which citizenship will be forged not by gun and sword, but by data, technology and relentless communication."

The round table will be held at a central location in Washington D.C. A UK follow-up event, entitled Project 2020, will be held in London on 9th December. It will focus specifically on the collective cyber- defence experience of the ICSPA membership and will include manufacturing corporations involved in providing Internet-aligned products and services. Project 2020 will seek to analyse the future evolution of cybercrime and chart its likely development over the next 8 years, in order to implement mitigation measures to better protect affected nations, businesses and citizens around the world.

About Trend Micro
Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704;TSE: 4704), a global cloud security leader, creates a world safe for exchanging digital information with its Internet content security and threat management solutions for businesses and consumers. A pioneer in server security with over 20 years' experience, we deliver top-ranked client, server and cloud-based security that fits our customers' and partners' needs, stops new threats faster, and protects data in physical, virtualized and cloud environments. Powered by the industry-leading Trend Micro™ Smart Protection Network™ cloud computing security infrastructure, our products and services stop threats where they emerge – from the Internet. They are supported by 1,000+ threat intelligence experts around the globe.

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