Pentagon says NSA working with major firms on cyber issues, defense information sharing

Amid rising cases of cyber fraud, the US Defense Department Acting Chief Information Officer, Kelly Fletcher said that the National Security Agency (NSA) is working with big defence industrial base companies on information sharing on cyber issues. During an interview at the Billington CyberSecurity Summit, Fletcher said that big defence firms have “pretty unique and interesting” information on cyber issues. She added that hence, the NSA is working to collaborate with the big companies for a “common good”. 

Fletcher said, “To talk a little bit about what NSA is doing, I think it's very cool. They're focused on big defense industrial base companies, and when they say they're a collaboration center, they are a collaboration centre.”

“They are really trying to say 'Hey, we have some exquisite information.' It's the NSA. But also these commercial entities, these big companies, they have some pretty unique and interesting information. So we're working to collaborate, sort of for the common good,” she added. 

Initiatives to tackle cybercrime 

Further, the US defence official said that the government’s pivot to a so-called “zero-trust” cyber architecture will require the support of industry partners as well as the Defence Department. Meanwhile, Fletcher’s remarks come after the Biden administration announced a Civil Cyber Fraud initiative to counter cyber security breaches and the use of cryptocurrencies in accomplishing cyber fraud. According to a statement released by the US Justice Department, the initiative will combine the department’s expertise in civil fraud enforcement, government procurement and cybersecurity to combat new and emerging cyber threats to sensitive information and critical systems.

Additionally, the United States’ top national security advisers have also unveiled a plan of holding a virtual summit with leading global executives and officials from at least 30 countries. According to the White House statement, the main agenda of the summit would be to discuss the growing threat of ransomware and other cybercrime posed by extortionist hackers. Notably, US President Joe Biden had earlier this year also signed an executive order to modernise and improve the security of technological assets, including software security, information sharing, and federal networks. 

(With inputs from ANI)