ImmuniWeb and the UN ITU announce a strategic partnership to build cyber capacity

Web security company ImmuniWeb joins the list of cybersecurity leaders, intergovernmental and international organizations that represent key partners of the ITU. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the United Nations (UN) specialized agency for information and communication technologies. Its cybersecurity programs and initiatives provide 193 Member States with actionable opportunities and powerful instruments to enhance their national cybersecurity capacity and reinforce cyber-resilience, to build sustainable, trusted and safe digital ecosystems for their citizens. In addition to shaping national cybersecurity strategies and setting foundational frameworks for the creation of national cyber-resilience capacities, the ITU is actively pursuing such socially important goals in cyberspace as child protection and empowering women in cybersecurity through building mentorship programs.

The strategic partnership is a coordinated response to the skyrocketing cyber risks and amplified sophistication of cyber-attacks. The situation is exacerbated by the spiralling pandemic that forced many companies and organizations to decrease their cybersecurity budgets while working from home (WFH) introduced a broad spectrum of new attack vectors. In 2021, numerous healthcare institutions, providers of critical national infrastructure (CNI) and energy companies fell victims to devastating ransomware campaigns that paralyzed their operations for weeks, leaving thousands of people without access to essential goods and services. The ITU’s Global Cybersecurity Index 2020 highlights the undelayable necessity to reinforce national commitments in cybersecurity, to develop efficient public-private partnerships, and to encourage inclusive cybersecurity education in all Member States.

Through this partnership with the ITU, ImmuniWeb will provide the qualified ITU Member States with facilitated access to its award-winning ImmuniWeb® AI Platform and expertise in over 18 domains of cybersecurity, data protection and compliance. ImmuniWeb will support national CIRTs through participation in cybersecurity drills and educational programs for public and private sectors organized or supported by the ITU. ImmuniWeb will also actively participate in multistakeholder cybersecurity exercises that are regularly conducted by the ITU. The collaboration, among other things, will help prevent ransomware campaigns and supply chain attacks. ImmuniWeb has already been actively supporting the most vulnerable enterprises and organizations around the globe for several years. The free ImmuniWeb® Community Edition runs over 100,000 daily tests and is used by universities, health care institutions, SMEs and municipal governments from over 100 countries that are looking to test and protect their digital infrastructure.

Ilia Kolochenko, CEO & Chief Architect at ImmuniWeb, says: “Global data protection and privacy landscape becomes gradually more and more complicated. In 2021, many countries including China, South Africa and Brazil have implemented comprehensive data protection laws at the national level but with an extraterritorial impact. Several state privacy laws were enacted in the US, making the convoluted patchwork of the US cybersecurity legislation even more complex and multifaceted.

Contrastingly to the flourishing privacy legislation, law enforcement agencies around the globe struggle with the mounting challenges of cross-border cybercrime investigation, collection and preservation of digital evidence, extradition of cybercriminals and mutual legal assistance because of the spiralling pandemic, political tensions and supply chain crisis.

Therefore, the ITU’s trusted and apolitical platform is essential to develop multinational cyber-resilience capacities and to curb supranational cybercrime. We are delighted to team up with the ITU to contribute to their unique ecosystem aimed to make the digital world a safe and trusted place. More is coming soon, please stay tuned.”

Marco Obiso, Chief a.i. Digital Network and Society Department at ITU, says: “The ITU Community of Sector Members welcomes ImmuniWeb as an equal partner to together accelerate digital cooperation and cybersecurity capacity development for developing countries, to create a trusted cyberspace for all.”