The RH-ISAC was built to create a secure place for retailers to share cybersecurity information and intelligence to not only better protect their own companies, but to also strengthen the entire sector – a rising tide lifting all boats. What started with about 30 companies coming together in Pittsburgh, PA, in 2014 has now grown to include 120 Core Members (retailers, restaurants, hotels, gaming casinos, consumer product companies and more) sharing not only the threat information that they are seeing but their cybersecurity journey, as well, so others can learn, grow and continue to mature. It also includes 20 Associate Members who share their insights and provide key services to our community.
What started with building trust one meeting at a time has led to a vibrant sharing community in which, last month, 50 percent of member companies shared something and last year the community collected more than 40,000 indicators of compromise that could be ingested automatically into members’ systems.
In building the RH-ISAC, we also created the Retail Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Retail ISAC), but housed it under the broader name for concerns of government over-reaction during those heady days of 2014. But, to be honest, the name has always been a bit of a stumbling block, requiring an extra step of explanation of who we are.
That’s about to change.
Effective today, the RH-ISAC is now the Retail & Hospitality Information Sharing and Analysis Center (RS-ISAC).
Bringing the ISAC front and center in the name, instead of being embedded within the RH-ISAC, emphasizes the role the RH-ISAC plays within the critical infrastructure community. As a member of the National Council of ISACs, the RH-ISAC is the information sharing and analysis center for these important sectors – retail and hospitality.
Incorporating “hospitality” into our name reflects the growing number of companies from that sector that are joining retailers to combat common threats and challenges – both sectors working to strengthen their defenses to better protect their customers’ and company’s information.
We’re excited about the growth that this name reflects and we look forward to building off of the momentum of 2018 to even greater things in 2019. Things like:
- The Retail and Hospitality Threat Trend Report, co-produced with Accenture,
- The Anatomy of ATO, an account takeover (ATO) resource driven by the Fraud Committee,
- The Franchise Framework, driven by the Franchise Committee,
- The Building a Value-Driving Cybersecurity Program, a framework being developed for the Securing Retail Alliance,
- A table-top exercise guided by the CISO Committee, and
- Working closely with the ISAC Committee to determine what the next generation of our technology platform will look like to not only take us to the next level, but that will also meet our members’ requirements and needs.
The list above is a testament that all we do is driven by members, for members. So thank you for the support you continue to give. Please continue to let us know what we can do to continually improve. Because, although our name has changed, the founding principal remains the same: to collaborate to mitigate cyber risk and facilitate the sharing of threat information and intelligence among our members.
Here’s to a year of outstanding interaction as the Retail and Hospitality ISAC.
