Diginotar hack was a flag for more public/private co-operation

THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT has admitted that the Diginotar hacking was a cyber security "wake up call" for its public and private organisations on the need to work together.

Speaking on the second day of the London Conference on Cyberspace, Dutch national co-ordinator of counter terrorism and security, Erik Akerbomm explained that he set up the Cyber Security Council in June to perform just such a role in facilitating information exchange between government, private industry and research teams.

Although the council was established at around the time of the massive hacking attack at the certificate authority, Diginotar did not report the incident until a month later, highlighting the need for compulsory breach reporting mechanisms if governments and private business are to work together effectively, Akerbomm added.

Matthew Kirk, group external affairs director at Vodafone, argued that the Dutch model is a good one of national best practice on information sharing and partnership but said private business needs to do its bit too.

"We have a responsibility to spread best practice to show governments what works for us and create the right atmosphere of trust," he said.

"A top-down system would take far too long to work out what it needs to achieve. The world is moving too fast."

Simon Rigg, SVP of information security at Bank of America, agreed that private firms should play a leadership role in forming partnerships with others across industry and government.

"We put a lot of effort into forging relationships on an international basis. We don't believe in the agenda being set from on high and passed down," he said.

"We should take it upon ourselves to seek out organisations in our home areas and foster relationships and these will be cemented and grow over time." µ