RILA teams up with cyber-forensics group

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) has entered into a partnership with the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA) to enhance cybersecurity information sharing and expand retailers’ proactive and vigilant approach to cyber threats to protect consumers against criminals.



Partnering with the NCFTA is one of several approaches RILA is taking to enhance collaboration across the entire payments system. Last week, RILA announced it is joining forces with the Financial Services Roundtable to lead a partnership between the merchant and financial services industries.



“Our partnership with NCFTA is one of many information sharing models we are pursuing as part of our multi-solution approach to cybersecurity,” said Lisa LaBruno, SVP of retail operations at RILA. “Collaboration among retailers and other stakeholders is essential to detecting threats early on and combatting cyber-criminals.”



Improving industry-wide cybersecurity capabilities by sharing threat information, exploring innovative technologies and enhancing the security of the payments system are crucial components of RILA’s Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Initiative. RILA’s partnership with the NCFTA, a nonprofit corporation specializing in establishing public-private partnerships, will provide a forum through which retailers can collaborate on effective solutions to combat cyber-criminals in a cooperative environment.



“The NCFTA is honored to partner with RILA to share threat intelligence. I applaud RILA's thought leadership in taking a proactive approach in collaborating across public-private sectors,” said Maria Vello, CEO of the NCFTA. “By working together to share threat intelligence, everyone will be smarter and stronger in their quest to protect their brand, business and most importantly, their customers. Effectively addressing cyber crimes demands a new and collective response; this is exactly what RILA is doing.”



The RILA and NCFTA partnership is supported by RILA’s Retail Cybersecurity Leaders Council (RCLC), which is made up of retail information security executives from among RILA’s membership. This partnership will expand retailers’ network to include academia, law enforcement, financial institutions and other industries. In March, the RCLC will convene at the NCFTA in Pittsburgh to kick off the information sharing process across industries.