14 DAY TRIAL // CESG – the Information Security arm of the United Kingdom’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) – and the Center for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI), in collaboration with the Council of Registered Ethical Security Testers (CREST) have launched two cyber incident response schemes.
These strategies aim at providing cyberattack victims with a list of organizations that can offer response and clean-up services. The list comprises only government-assured and certified providers.
CESG and CPNI launched a pilot back in November 2012, which concluded that a “complementary twin track approach” for certified cyber incident response services was needed to provide an increased resilience to private and public sector organizations, and critical national infrastructure companies.
The “twin track approach” refers to one small and focused government-run strategy to respond to sophisticated, targeted attacks against networks of national significance, and another one led by CREST that focuses on incident response for all sectors of industry.
The schemes are meant to help all organizations find incident response services that suit their needs best.
“We know that UK organisations are confronted with cyber threats that are growing in number and sophistication,” stated Chloë Smith, UK’s minister for cyber security.
“The best defence for organisations is to have processes and measures in place to prevent attacks getting through, but we also have to recognise that there will be times when attacks do penetrate our systems and organisations want to know who they can reliably turn to for help,” Smith added.
“I am delighted to announce a unique Government-Industry partnership to tackle the effects of cyber incidents. This scheme and others like it, together with the ‘10 Steps to Cyber Security’ guidance for business launched last year, are an important part of our effort to provide assistance to industry and government in order to protect UK interests in cyberspace.”