Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News
New Zealand Security Innovation Service Director-General of Security and Chief Executive Andrew Hampton said the coalition members have a common desire to use partnerships to tackle the threat—whether that looks like their governments exchanging threat intelligence or means trading notes with private-sector innovators to increase mutual understanding and collectively brainstorm threat response.
“For us, the key thing is awareness: Having your eyes open and being able to share that best practice to manage the threat,” Hampton said.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service Director David Vigneault echoed this dedication to using teamwork to protect innovation.
“What we are trying to do here … is to take the knowledge and the awareness that we have and bring it to you in your own respective way as experts working with government to find the right frameworks so that we can enable that openness, transparency and innovation, but at the same time, do it in a way that, you know, will protect what is important for us: freedom, democracy, [and], you know, freedom from interference and coercion, as well,” he said.
MI5 Director Ken McCallum concurred.
“The stakes are now incredibly high on emerging technologies; states which lead the way in areas like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and synthetic biology will have the power to shape all our futures,” he said. ”We all need to be aware, and respond, before it’s too late.”
The outlook for this kind of teamwork seems to be bright. During pre-summit meetings, Wray said he’s observed that businesses are more open than ever to learning how to immunize themselves against the threat of innovation theft. Whereas private sector players once needed to be sold on the existence of a threat in the first place, he explained, they’re now hungry to learn how they and the FBI can fight back together.
“We’re arming the private sector with information that enables them to take better steps to protect themselves, and so, in that sense, we’re tapping into an alignment of interests,” Wray said.
From there, he noted, businesses can decide whether or not to act on that intelligence. In any case, the shared information can help companies stop intellectual property theft and strengthen their cyber defenses.