by
Lauren Dubinsky, Senior Reporter | February 20, 2018
Siemens and eight partner companies signed a joint charter at the Munich Security Conference that calls for greater cybersecurity.
The other companies include IBM, Airbus, Allianz, Daimler Group, NXP, SGS and Deutsche Telekom.
The average cost of a single data breach for all industries is $4 million, according to a Protenus report. In the health care industry alone, breaches cost a total of $6.2 billion per year.
"Confidence that the security of data and networked systems is guaranteed is a key element of the digital transformation," Joe Kaeser, president and CEO of Siemens, said in a statement. "That's why we have to make the digital world more secure and more trustworthy.”
The charter outlines ten areas that governments and businesses can help. It calls for dedicated ministry in governments and a chief information security officer at companies, as well as the establishment of mandatory, independent third-party certification for certain infrastructure and solutions.
Airbus CEO
told Bloomberg News that his company employs about 1,000 people to respond to cyber attacks, and he expects that number to increase at least tenfold in the next decade. Most of the breaches that are disclosed to companies by government agencies come from the U.S. and U.K. — highlighting the need for other European political institutions to work with companies.
“We must not be afraid to share information freely between governments, government agencies and industries,” Enders said.
The trust insists that security and data protection functions be preconfigured as a part of technologies, and cybersecurity regulations be incorporated into free trade agreements. It also calls for more cybersecurity training and continuing education and international initiatives.
Chrystia Freeland, the Canadian foreign minister and G7 representative and Elżbieta Bieńkowska, the EU Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, are both in support of this initiative.
"Canada welcomes the efforts of these key industry players to help create a safer cyberspace,” Freeland said in a statement. “Cybersecurity will certainly be a focus of Canada's G7 presidency year.”
