In The News
Philip Reitinger: “We all know what we have to do in cybersecurity.”
May 17, 2023. Recently, during RSA Conference 2023, Philip Reitinger, President and CEO at the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA), met Tom Field, Senior Vice President, Editorial, at ISMG, for an interview. They have gathered many times over the years at this event in San Francisco since GCA was founded in 2015.
In the exchange, Mr. Reitinger shared his views on the progress in cybersecurity policy meetings in a context full of new players in the field.
“We all know what we have to do, it’s just the will to get things completed is not necessarily there all the time,” he admitted.
Reitinger often calls for collective and decisive action as the cybersecurity situation is gradually becoming worse, a pledge directly linked to the driving idea behind the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA)– Do Something. Measure it.
GCA creates and equips communities focused on delivery of sustainable tools and practical programs that result in a more trustworthy Internet, enabling social and economic progress across the globe.
To fulfill its mission internationally, its growing team is becoming more global -with staff members across the US, Canada, UK, Belgium, Spain, and North Macedonia- and so is its network of partners and advisors.
This nonprofit works hard to continue to expand its footprint across the world and to provide tools and solutions to individuals and organizations in an accessible, useful, and seamless way.
During the interview, Reitinger announced the upcoming release of its GCA Cybersecurity Toolkit for Small Business in Portuguese and shared that they are really excited about having reached over a million people with the existing set of cybersecurity toolkits.
Everyone plays a role
They discussed a relevant initiative focusing on the notion that everybody has a role to play in strengthening global cybersecurity resilience: Cyber Civil Defense (CCD), a broad coalition of organizations, nonprofits, governments, industry, and philanthropists dedicated to educating and protecting democratic society amid escalating cybersecurity threats.
Launched by Craig Newmark Philanthropies in the US, the initiative works with participation from organizations -including Consumer Reports, Aspen Digital and GCA- to engage all sectors to work together on better cybersecurity resources, support, and opportunities.
“We need a whole-of-society effort,” Reitinger highlighted. Through the program, GCA is providing tools and services everyone needs to protect themselves.
Reitinger also discussed other GCA initiatives such as Nonprofit Cyber, a “coalition of the willing.“ In just one year, it has already released a compilation of 120 solutions developed by nonprofits to to mitigate their exposure to cyber risk.
The full interview is available at ISMG’s specialized information channel GovInfoSecurity.
