Think Securely About Your Business
The UK’s standard of corporate governance, framework of laws and policies, and business friendly environment enable productive international engagement and collaboration. Overseas parties welcome the chance to engage with British organisations, be that at home or overseas. However, engaging with overseas parties can, at times, expose you to considerable risks.
Record levels of activity by state owned entities have raised concerns about state sponsored espionage, as well as quickly evolving national security threats such as sabotage and inappropriate leverage.
An open approach to international business should include measures to protect your long-term profitability, reputation, and the national security of the UK.
Secure Business outlines the importance of considering security hand-in-hand with an organisation’s international strategy. Created jointly by NPSA and NCSC, Secure Business provides areas for consideration which should help shape the path the organisation takes. These include but are not limited to:
- the economic and political stability of the countries you operate in and engage with, including the level of state intervention.
- the level to which the country adheres to the rules based approach to international business and collaboration.
- any differences in commercial roles and responsibilities or cultural protocols to doing business.
- the organisations ability to access fair and equitable remedies, if necessary.
The guidance also draws out the threats posed by international business and collaborations with case studies based on real events, and provides practical mitigations which can be a part of the organisations approach.
These considerations should not be a barrier to international business. In fact, decision making that is well-informed and conducted with an awareness of the security risks should enable organisations to optimise their commercial objectives while not harming the national security of the UK.
If you have any questions or feedback on the guidance please do get in touch with your NPSA or NCSC adviser.
