Giuliani to form Trump's cyber advisory group

Dive Brief:

President-elect Donald Trump has tapped former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to form a cybersecurity group with leading senior corporate executives, the Trump team announced.
"The idea here is to bring together corporate leaders and their technological people. The president will meet with them on an ongoing basis, as well as anybody else in the administration," Giuliani said Thursday morning in a conversation on "Fox and Friends."
The group will serve as a bridge between the government and private sector, allowing Trump to sit down with the experts in a series of meetings to understand which companies have "faced or are facing challenges similar to those facing the government and public entities today," according to the announcement. Potential cybersecurity concerns include "hacking, intrusions, disruptions, manipulations, theft of data and identities, and securing information technology infrastructure."

Dive Insight:

It is not yet clear what Giuliani's exact title will be, or how his role will work, but Trump is relying on him because of his career in law enforcement "and his now 16 years of work providing security solutions in the private sector," according to the announcement. In the end, Giuliani thinks the answer to cybersecurity concerns will come from the private sector.

EXCLUSIVE: Rudy Giuliani announces he's forming a cyber security group on behalf of Trump administration pic.twitter.com/LC20pYW02d
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) January 12, 2017

Lacking cybersecurity measures have continued to dominate both the public and private sector, with elected officials calling cyberattacks and intrusions national security concerns. The incoming president wants to hear case studies from the private sector to understand exactly what companies are facing in regards to cybersecuirty, how they met their challenges and what approaches either were or were not successful in mitigating attacks.

Trump's approach is not without its merits. Collaboration between the public and private sector has been called upon by many officials to help deter cyberthreats all sectors are facing. Until the cyber advisor group takes shape, many questions persist, and whether they can find the key to locking down systems and keeping up with ever-increasing threats.