ADS is delighted to become a Corporate Supporter of The Intelligence Network, a cross-industry community dedicated to creating a safer society in the digital age, launched by BAE Systems in July 2018. Digitally-enabled malicious and criminal activity now presents a systemic and pervasive threat across businesses, governments and society more generally and, in order to reverse the damaging trend of opportunism by criminal and other malicious actors, it is vital that we present a united front and genuinely collaborate to find and implement solutions to the myriad of threats which exist in the digital world. This action must be taken across industry, from the largest companies like BAE Systems, down to the many innovative SMEs which play such a critical role in both maintaining the UK as a world leader in innovative technologies and services, while providing a driving force for the UK economy. Therefore, we are very excited to be in discussions with BAE around a joint event specifically aimed at tackling these prevalent issues for SMEs operating in the cyber security sector, and who make up a significant portion of ADS’s membership, in order to demonstrate the commitment of the Intelligence Network to being a truly inclusive community of like-minded representatives from across the whole spectrum of industry.
ADS itself has, in recent months, established its own Special Interest Group – the Digital Information and Systems Integrity Group (DISIG) – in order to collectively represent its member companies with capabilities in the digital arena. With our integration into The Intelligence Network, we very much look forward to adding the wide range of capabilities present throughout the ADS membership to finding mutually beneficial and effective solutions for tackling cross-industry and cross-societal issues which arise from the exploitation of the digital age by malicious actors. This is not an issue which simply affects big industry – indeed, now that cyber-enabled fraud is the most prevalent crime in the UK, normal citizens going about their daily lives are very vulnerable to becoming victims, often with painful financial consequences. Therefore, we are very excited to become part of the community of The Intelligence Network and play a key role in driving forward a very significant initiative in securing the safety of both industry and wider society in the digital age.