A large group of companies in the tech sector have launched the Network Resilience Coalition (NRC). This organization aims to tighten the security level of data and networks worldwide.
The group includes AT&T, BT Group, Cisco, Fortinet, Juniper Networks, Lumen Technologies, Verizon and VMware, among others. These parties aim to ensure global economic and national security by revamping network hardware and improving software resilience.
Not just patching
For many IT infrastructures, keeping patches correctly updated is the most straightforward way to keep security up to par. However, numerous threats are not always visible or patches are simply not available for outdated devices, for example. Even an otherwise well-layered defense against cyber threats can encounter poorly secured components.
Currently, there are no concrete plans from this new NRC. It will, however, produce a report from which several recommendations will emerge. This should provide useful insights for both “technology providers” and “technology users.
Coordinator of the nonprofit Center for Cybersecurity Policy & Law Ari Schwartz says network resilience is essential to the connected world we live in. “Too often we see organizations become a victim of a cyber-attack because an existing critical update or patch was not done.”
So the initiative has the support of a number of major players, but it will be some time before we see any real-world impact from this lot. Meanwhile, of course, many of these companies are already working independently on many different security solutions.
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