NATO signs Cyber Partnership Agreement with Fortinet

Tuesday, 29 March 2016 00:12 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Fortinet, the global leader in high-performance cyber security solutions, today announced that within the framework of the NATO Industry Cyber Partnership (NICP), the NATO Communications and Information (NCI) Agency signed an industry partnership agreement with Fortinet.

NCI Agency General Manager Koen Gijsbers said: “NATO is facing cybersecurity threats across the world that could drastically affect national economies and citizens. To avoid it, NCI Agency strongly believes in early information sharing on threats and vulnerabilities with leading companies worldwide, such as Fortinet.”

Fortinet Founder, President and Chief Technology Officer Michael Xie said: “Organisations, both public or private, and everyday people are constantly under cyber attack. The combination of the growth of threats, the ever-evolving attack surface, and the dramatic increase in the number of devices we use everyday means the job of protecting ourselves will continue to be more and more difficult. If more organisations proactively share actionable intelligence, together we can better combat advanced threats and counteract the latest risks to deliver security without compromise today and in the future.”

Two-way information sharing

The agreement with Fortinet will boost two-way information sharing, in particular on cyber threat intelligence. This is often a high impact and efficient way to enhance cyber resilience and mitigate vulnerability to attack. Some of the expectations of this initiative are:

Improve cyber defence in NATO’s defence supply chain;
Facilitate participation of industry organisations in multinational Smart Defence projects;
Improve sharing of expertise, information and experience of operating under the constant threat of cyber-attack, including information on threats and vulnerabilities, e.g. malware information sharing;
Raise awareness and improve the understanding of cyber risks;
Leverage private sector developments for capability development, and;
Generate efficient and adequate support in case of cyber incidents.

The agreement with Fortinet is the latest in a series of important partnerships with industry organisations in the framework of the NICP. The NCI Agency is responsible for operating and defending NATO’s networks.