Verizon is joining forces with the United States Secret Service on a 2010 Data Breach Investigations Report. The report, a first-of-its-kind collaboration, is scheduled to be released this summer and will aggregate findings from Verizon’s internal cases as well as hundreds of cyber crime investigations being conducted by the Secret Service.
As part of an ongoing effort to better understand security breaches and how they can be prevented, Verizon security researchers expect to gain a unique perspective on data breaches, including what happens after a breach to identify suspects, make arrests, and extradite foreign nationals, and how cybercriminals are prosecuted.
“Verizon is significantly broadening the scope of the 2010 DBIR to gain new insight into how data breaches occur, especially in the consumer sector,” said Peter Tippett, Vice President of technology and innovation for Verizon Business. “With a greatly expanded dataset, this year’s report will give a more accurate picture of data breaches around the globe while delving into new areas in an effort to better arm organizations worldwide in the fight against cybercrime.” 
The partnership will utilize Verizon’s Incident Sharing framework (VERIS) — a not-for-profit, open-source structure used to describe, classify and analyze security incidents. Earlier this year, Verizon began publicly sharing this research framework, which the company uses to collect and analyze security-incident data for its landmark data breach investigations reports.
The VERIS framework will enable Verizon security researchers to compare the Secret Service’s caseload data with Verizon’s historical dataset to gain a better understanding of how security breaches occur and what can be done to better manage risk.
“Combating computer-related crimes targeting the U.S. financial infrastructure is a top Secret Service priority,” said Secret Service Assistant Director for Investigations Michael Merritt. “We are proud to partner with our colleagues in the private sector, academia and at all levels of government to better identify and prevent these insidious attacks.”
Tippett, speaking at the Infosecurity Europe trade show in London this week, made an interesting prediction, stating “While we can never fully forecast the future, we certainly have a good glimpse into what security will be like 10 years from now, based on all the data we have amassed over the last several years for our Data Breach Investigations Reports. For starters, we know successful security breaches are leveling off, and that means we are headed in the right direction as organizations band together to fight cybercrime. By 2020, we expect life to be notably better for cyber users.”
Hopefully this public and private sector cooperation starts a trend that continues.