The Five Eyes intelligence alliance – Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States – announced a new initiative last week to safeguard technology companies, researchers, and investors from rising security risks, particularly national security threats. Named “Secure Innovation,” this program provides collaborative security guidance to combat potential threats to emerging technologies.
A news release highlighted that this initiative builds five shared principles introduced during last year’s Emerging Technology and Securing Innovation Security Summit. This latest initiative aims to provide security guidance and resources for businesses across the Five Eyes nations.
“Innovation drives collective prosperity and security, yet the threats to innovation are increasing in both scale and complexity,” said Dan Rogers, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). “To meet this challenge, CSIS and our Five Eyes partners have launched the Secure Innovation security advice initiative to help build security awareness among tech companies, researchers, and investors.”
The program specifically targets economic espionage by hostile state actors who attempt to steal technology and research from Five Eyes economies. It aims to provide accessible, cost-effective recommendations for tech companies to safeguard their intellectual property, enhance their reputation, and ensure sustained success.
“This means companies can benefit from consistent advice reflecting both the globalized and interconnected tech start up ecosystem as well as the global nature of the security threats start-ups face. CSIS’ strong relationships with community partners, businesses, and academia are crucial to building resilience against national security threats,” the news release noted.
CSIS noted that it would release more resources through the Secure Innovation program to help the Canadian technology sector mitigate threats.