NC4 Portal Solution Selected to Improve Community Cyber Security Sharing Practices Across the Retail Sector

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., May 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- NC4, a leader in revolutionizing safety and security, today announced that the Retail Cyber Intelligence Sharing Center (R-CISC) joins other leading critical infrastructure entities using NC4's Cyber Threat Exchange to improve cyber security and enhance community and member sharing practices. The solution is part of an overall ecosystem of technologies and practices focused on defending the critical Retail sector and an estimated $22 Trillion in retail transactions worldwide¹. The R-CISC Intelligence Sharing Portal is a significant component for coordinating critical cyber intelligence sharing within the retail industry, and will enable R-CISC members to take part in a common defense strategy.

Cyber threats have evolved from attacks against individual companies and agencies to attacks against similar groups of companies and industries, as has been witnessed by highly visible attacks against the retail industry. To bolster the United States' economic safety and security, the US Congress has proposed legislation to encourage and promote the sharing of relevant cybersecurity information about potential cyberattacks, malware, viruses, and computer intrusions. Other countries have also established information sharing standards and regulations. NC4's solution is part of an overall information sharing approach that enables members of ISACs, ISAOs and other trusted communities to publish and share actionable cyber threat intelligence for a common defense against cyber-attacks. Types of information published and shared on such portals can include threat alerts, cyber security documents providing more context for security analysts, member-submitted content and other data.

Today's announcement follows another recent announcement about the application of NC4's portal solutions for the DSIE – the ISAO for the defense industrial base. NC4 solutions are utilized within key trusted communities such as:

• US-CERT, a DHS organization, which leads efforts to improve the nation's cybersecurity posture, coordinate cyber information sharing, and proactively manage cyber threats against the nation and non-US partners.
• The leading financial services organizations – through FS-ISAC, the gold standard in information sharing for the global Financial Sector.
• The leading defense organizations - through DSIE - the Defense Security Information Exchange.

The R-CISC is partnering with the FS-ISAC to take advantage of the successful sharing models and technologies already in use by the financial services sector for exchanging cyber threat intelligence both intra-sector and sector-to-sector.

"Given the importance of providing timely, actionable information to combat cybercrime in the retail industry, we are happy to be working with R-CISC to deliver solutions that directly improve the cyber security posture of its members," remarked Jim Montagnino, NC4 President and CEO.

"Our efforts already have helped retailers establish trusted sharing relationships, have prevented data breaches, protected millions of retail customers and saved millions of dollars," said Brian Engle, Executive Director at R-CISC. "We are excited about our partnership with the FS-ISAC and look forward to utilizing an intelligence sharing portal powered by NC4. The combination of technologies, including those from NC4 and others, as well as information sharing best practices will provide state of the art cybersecurity capabilities across our retail member organizations."

NC4's Cyber Threat Exchange solutions have been operationally proven in reducing cyber-attacks across key private communities involving more than 3,000 companies. NC4 also helps with cyber information sharing with a number of public sector organizations. In total, NC4's cyber sharing solutions are trusted and in use by over 16,000 cyber professionals across 30 communities. 

About NC4

NC4 delivers safety and security solutions for both business and government organizations. We revolutionize how organizations and communities collect, manage, share and disseminate information to reduce cyber threats, fight crime, mitigate risks, and manage incidents. NC4 also provides secure communication and collaborating solutions for public and private sector communities.

NC4 solutions are used by private sector companies involved in financial services, high-tech, insurance, manufacturing, aerospace and defense, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, as well as several other industries.  In the public sector, NC4 solutions are used by federal, state and local agencies in homeland security, emergency management and law enforcement disciplines. NC4 takes a comprehensive and integrated approach to safety and security by providing: cyber threat exchanges that drive the development of circles of trust and a sharing culture; global security and travel intelligence, analysis, traveler tracking, and relevant real-time threat alerting to mitigate enterprise risks; and a common operating picture for fighting crime and managing emergencies. For information about NC4, visit www.NC4.com or call toll-free, 1-877-624-4999.