European Officials Tout Private Sector Collaboration – Source: www.govinfosecurity.com

Governance & Risk Management

Akshaya Asokan (asokan_akshaya) •
June 20, 2023    

A top European cybercrime official extoled public-private cooperation during a Tuesday conference, saying collaboration is helping the ongoing fight against ransomware. Consulting with cybersecurity specialists over policy is also a must, said an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development official.

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Private sector security organization play an important role in threat prevention and mitigation, Emmanuel Kessler, the head of prevention and awareness at Europol cybercrime center EC3 said during a panel discussion during a Tuesday cybersecurity conference in London.

Kessler touted Europol’s No More Ransom, a platform that makes available ransomware decryption keys, as an example of a successful public-private partnership.

Collaborative operations has helped the Europol in obtaining “a larger picture” about ransomware and in some cases assisted with the dismantling of cybercrime infrastructure, Kessler said. One example, he said, is the 2022 takedown of VPNLabs, which criminals used to facilitate malware distribution, ransomware deployment and the infrastructure behind ransomware campaigns. Another cited by Kessler is a December 2022 crackdown on distributed denial of service booster website.

Peter Stephens, policy advisor for digital security at Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said he hopes for more initiatives such as the Hackers on the Hill in the Untied States where security researchers meet with congressional staffers.

“We need to keep reviewing the impact of a cyber legislation on the industry and also consult about what would be the proportionate form of legislation – so that part of the negotiation has to be very open-ended with consultation and calls for evidence, to sort of reach out to people who are impacted by the regulation,” he said