Latin America. Cisco and the Organization of American States (OAS) joined forces to democratize and promote the adoption of cybersecurity in Latin America, through the creation of the Cybersecurity Innovation Councils.
This initiative will serve as a space where stakeholders, leaders and experts from the private sector, public sector, academia, NGOs and security technology providers will collaborate to drive innovation, raise awareness and expand best practices, with the aim of helping to solve digital risks and challenges affecting the digital society.
OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro said that "these Councils create spaces for collaboration between technology leaders, experts from the public and private sectors, universities and non-governmental organizations to promote innovation, raise awareness and expand best practices. All of this, to help solve the risks and challenges facing our societies, and foster an open, secure and trusted digital environment across our region."
"As Latin American countries digitally transform, cybersecurity will be the foundation for achieving their national priorities. Our work with the OAS will help set the stage for Latin American communities, their governments and their businesses, to take full advantage of the digital economy," said Michael Timmeny, senior vice president and chief governance strategist at Cisco.
In addition to the Cybersecurity Innovation Councils, both Cisco and the OAS are leveraging the Cisco Networking Academy platform in Latin America, to promote educational resources that can help close the cybersecurity professional skills gap, allowing citizens to access training and career opportunities in this field and help build the workforce of the future. This training offer can be found here.
Cisco and the OAS will deploy their expertise and leverage their regional presence to lead an important dialogue that generates results to address cybersecurity challenges in Latin America. Cybersecurity is a core principle of Cisco to help transform digital enterprises. This initiative is especially relevant in a global industry where attacks have resulted in financial damages in excess of $500,000, including but not limited to lost revenue, customers, opportunities and out-of-pocket costs for organizations, according to the 2018 Cisco Cybersecurity Report.
Source: OAS.
