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Cisco nods to government agencies with Interpol collaboration

Cisco, Interpol partner to combat cyber criminals worldwide

Following a day after Amazon Web Services (AWS) unveiled its “Secret Region” cloud service for the U.S. Intelligence Community, Cisco announced it will share threat intelligence with the international police network Interpol in a joint effort to fight cyber crime. Cisco said the organizations will work together to develop a coordinated and focused approach to data sharing.

Cisco is a major provider of hardware like routes and switches, which help power the web. Due to this, the company has access to information about the world’s largest companies and governments. Cisco’s security team Cisco Talos will supply unspecified intelligence to Interpol on a host of cyber threats. The company claims its security technology currently thwarts approximately 19.7 billion threats a day.

“As cyber crime continues to escalate around the world, defenders from both the public and private sectors must meet the threat with equal force,” said John N. Stewart, chief security and trust officer at Cisco. “Visibility and comprehensive threat intelligence across the cyber domain are critical to enable detection, analysis, and protection against emerging threats. We are pleased to collaborate with Interpol to exchange threat intelligence and find other knowledge-sharing opportunities to fight cybercrime globally.”

According to Noboru Nakatani, executive director of IGCI, the purpose of the collaboration is to help Interpol and law enforcement units in 192 member countries, which will support cyber threat detection and prevention.

Interpol isn’t exactly known for being apolitical. The company has been charged of favoring countries over others. In October, for instance, Russia placed a critic of Vladamir Putin’s on the Interpol wanted list, which many believed was politically motivated.

While several tech companies have clients in the government sector, Cisco’s collaboration with Interpol is at odds with how the tech industry usually handles data requests from government agencies. Tech companies like Apple and Twitter, for instance, typically demand warrants prior to sharing data with law enforcement. Nevertheless, Cisco claims such collaboration is needed to curtail the cybersecurity threats plaguing the world.

This isn’t the only data-sharing agreement Interpol has recently landed. In October, for example, BT signed an agreement with Interpol to share data as part of a wider initiative to combat cyber attacks globally. The company said its threat intelligence experts would provide support to Interpol cyber wing, Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI), in pinpointing cyber criminals.

ABOUT AUTHOR

Nathan Cranford
Nathan Cranford
Nathan Cranford joined RCR Wireless News as a Technology Writer in 2017. Prior to his current position, he served as a content producer for GateHouse Media, and as a freelance science and tech reporter. His work has been published by a myriad of news outlets, including COEUS Magazine, dailyRx News, The Oklahoma Daily, Texas Writers Journal and VETTA Magazine. Nathan earned a bachelor’s from the University of Oklahoma in 2013. He lives in Austin, Texas.