New global cybersecurity center announced at Davos

The World Economic Forum announced plans to launch a new coordinating group to counter emerging cybersecurity threats and help connect leaders from business and government to collaborate on various security issues.

The World Economic Forum announced plans Wednesday to launch a new coordinating group to counter emerging cybersecurity threats and help connect leaders from business and government to collaborate on various security issues as well as share best practices.

Named the “Global Centre for Cybersecurity,” the loosely defined, Geneva-based organization will act as a sort of independent, multinational cyberthreat information sharing platform for companies to improve digital security writ large, explained Alois Zwinggi, managing director for the WEF, which is holding its annual gathering for world leaders in Davos, Switzerland, this week.

The center will become fully operational in March. Its creation was first announced during a panel discussion Wednesday in Davos.

Broadly speaking, governments across the globe have struggled to form information sharing channels with private companies. The model described at Davos is intended to encourage participation on a voluntary basis and not be controlled by any single government.

“The new Global Centre for Cybersecurity is designed as the first platform to tackle today’s cyber risks in a truly global manner,” said Zwinggi. “We need to collaborate with the governments as well as international organizations. To begin with, we will reach out to key industry players and G-20 countries to make this platform a success for dialogue and real-time action on cyber threats.”

The Global Centre for Cybersecurity has already gained the support of multiple prominent businesses and law enforcement organizations, including British telecommunications giant BT Group, U.S. microchip maker Qualcomm, Russian financial institution Sberbank and international crime fighting agency Interpol.

“Interpol is a natural strategic partner for the World Economic Forum’s Global Cyber Centre,” Jürgen Stock, secretary general of Interpol, said in a statement. “Both are unique because their global dimension underpins our collective response against the cyber threat. Our partnership contributes to building effective security architecture against such global threats, bringing key interdependent actors together, including police and business.”

In addition to serving as a conduit for conversations between influential figures, Zwinggi said the center will effectively consolidate some of the WEF’s other cybersecurity-focused initiatives.

“As a truly borderless problem, cyber-attacks are surpassing the capacities and institutions that are currently dealing with this threat in an isolated manner,” a press release published by the WEF  Wednesday reads. “Only through collaboration, information exchange and common standards can the global community successfully counter organized digital crime.”

Government

• FBI officials say AI is bolstering adversaries, emphasizing need to focus on cyber basics, patching

• Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models

• CIA’s Michael Ellis says cyber intelligence is changing how the agency operates

• The G7 tells industry to hurry up and prep for post-quantum encryption

Technology

• European parliament members call for slowdown of Serbia’s EU entry over spyware use

• FCC proposes public scorecard to rate telecoms on anti-robocall efforts

• Pegasus, NoviSpy variant spyware found on devices of Serbian activists

• Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

Threats

• Chinese espionage groups swarm to exploit triple-link chain of zero-days

• Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

• Russian national extradited to US for alleged involvement in bank-account takeover scheme

• Attackers exploit zero-days in consistently besieged SonicWall product

Policy

• Whistleblower says USPS deploying new, ‘untested’ IT systems governing mail-in ballots

• ‘Watershed 250’ test program in Texas looks to private sector for water cybersecurity help

• Former sexual abuse victims say Grok used their images, videos to train deepfake capabilities

• Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure