infoTECH Feature

February 27, 2014

Microsoft Partners with Organization of American States, Europol and FIS to Fight Cybercrimes

Unlike criminals of the past which were limited to certain geographical locations, today's cyber criminals can be anywhere perpetrating their attacks without any geographical limitations. The 17-year-old Russian teenager that was responsible for the Target (News - Alert) security breach is one example. If organizations are serious about making a dent, there needs to be an international collaboration between public and private entities to share information and prevent these attacks from taking place. With that in mind Microsoft has entered into a new global partnership to fight cybercrime by joining forces with the Organization of American States (OAS), Europol and FIS.

A memorandum of understanding was signed by the three organizations during the first annual Cybercrime Enforcement Summit. The purpose of the summit is for experts from academia, law-enforcement and the private sector to share solutions for confronting a global menace, cybercrime.

Microsoft (News - Alert) is investing heavily in this front to ensure not only the protection of the organization itself, but the millions of people around the world that use the company's products and services. Whether it is enterprises or individual consumers, Microsoft has a big stake in ensuring its customers have a degree of security.

The company unveiled the Microsoft Cybercrime Center, a state-of-the-art facility designed to fight Internet crimes of all kind last year at the Redmond headquarters by combining its researchers, security experts, and legal experts in one central location.

With this collaboration, Microsoft hopes to establish a framework of cooperation in which the three organizations will be able to identify Internet threats. This includes using forensic and technical analysis of malware and bot nets; assessment and investigation of emerging malware threats; enforcement actions against cybercriminals; and eventually breaking these criminal organizations apart.

"Cybercriminals are increasingly sophisticated in preying on consumers, including children and senior citizens.These agreements will help the private and public sectors fight cybercrime more effectively, while protecting our customers’ privacy," said Brad Smith, Microsoft executive vice president and general counsel.

The involvement of FIS is in part due to the company's global presence in the financial sector. The company provides banking and payment technologies to more than 14,000 institutions in more than 110 countries around the world. The expertise it brings to the table will be invaluable to this collaboration.

"This partnership with Microsoft will help FIS to better protect its clients from cybercrime and make global financial transactions safer for our clients and their customers. We’re pleased to partner with companies like Microsoft, which are taking aggressive action to address cybercrime at every opportunity. We look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Microsoft,” said Greg Montana, EVP and chief risk officer, FIS. 




Edited by Cassandra Tucker
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