Business and law enforcement must work together to combat cybercrime and establish best practices to protect businesses from potential attacks
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce today released a new white paper, entitled Partnering with Law Enforcement to Combat Cybercrime, that highlights the different ways businesses partner with law enforcement entities, clarifies individual roles within the law enforcement community, and details how law enforcement prevents and responds to cyberattacks on businesses.
“Cybersecurity is an ever-growing threat in today’s world and one that many business leaders say is a top concern for them,” said Matthew Eggers, vice president for cybersecurity policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “This new paper urges businesses to prepare and explore how to best build and grow public-private partnerships between private sector and law enforcement entities, which are key to combatting cybercrime.”
The paper, released at a cybersecurity conference co-hosted with the Sioux Falls Area Chamber, distinguishes five best practices for businesses when partnering with law enforcement officials before, during, and after suspected criminal activity:
- Cultivate trusted and bidirectional relationships with state and federal law enforcement as well as U.S. attorney points of contact;
- Join a cyber information-sharing organization;
- Develop, exercise, and update a cyber incident response plan;
- Ensure that legal counsel is familiar with the organization’s cyber risk management and incident response plans and its responsibilities when interacting with government agencies; and
- Contact law enforcement at any point during incident response for suspected criminal activity.
“The aim of this paper and our national cyber campaign is to educate local businesses of all sizes on how to protect themselves from malicious cyber activity and the need to establish a relationship with law enforcement well before an attack even occurs,” said Eggers.
The full report is available here.
Cyber threats are a constant concern for businesses of all sizes, and risk management must be a part of everyday life. The public and private sectors need to work together to confront criminals and lone actors that are targeting computer networks and infrastructure, stealing proprietary information from our businesses, extorting victims for financial gain, and violating the privacy of internet users. There is no silver bullet, but by working together, governments, businesses, and citizens can improve security and resilience.
The Sioux Falls conference is part of a series of cybersecurity events the U.S. Chamber is hosting. You can learn more about today’s event here and more about the Chamber’s cybersecurity awareness campaign here.
