NCSC launches campaign to educate US private companies on cyber threats

The National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) has launched a campaign to educate the private sector on rising cyber threats.

Its aim is to support the private industry guard against rising threats from foreign intelligence entities and other adversaries. To support its campaign, the NCSC is distributing videos, brochures, and other informative material.

To outline the threats being posed the NCSC explained a handful of threats posed to US companies last year. This included cyber actors associated with China’s Ministry of State Security being indicted by the US for global computer intrusion campaign, and charges against a North Korean state-backed hacker which played a part in the global WannaCry 2.0 ransomware. Other examples involved cyber threats from hackers residing in Iran and Russia.

The NCSC is making its “Know the Risk, Raise Your Shield” materials available to the private sector so they can bolster their protections around data, assets, technologies and networks. This can be found on the body’s website and includes topics such as supply chain risks, economic espionage, social engineering, social media deception, spear-phishing, mobile device safety, and foreign travel risks.

Another resource being made available to private companies is NCSC’s 2018 Foreign Economic Espionage in Cyberspace report. This document offers unclassified information on foreign intelligence efforts to steal US intellectual property, trade secrets, and proprietary data via cyberspace.

It was originally released in July 2018, and identifies the most prevalent nation-state threat players, industrial sectors at the biggest threat from attacks and emerging threats in the market.

NCSC director William Evanina said, “Make no mistake, American companies are squarely in the cross-hairs of well-financed nation-state actors, who are routinely breaching private sector networks, stealing proprietary data, and compromising supply chains. The attacks are persistent, aggressive, and cost our nation jobs, economic advantage, and hundreds of billions of dollars.

“To enhance private sector awareness, we’re arming U.S. companies with information they need to better understand and defend against these threats.”