The fortress mindset is dead.
For years, businesses believed that more firewalls and isolated networks would keep hackers out. That thinking is now dangerously outdated. In 2024, attackers went from breaking in to stealing data in just two days. In one out of five cases, they were done in under an hour.
When threats move that fast, no business can defend itself alone. The good news is you don’t have to.
Your Walls Can’t Keep Up
Here’s the problem: hackers share everything. They trade tools, swap tricks, and sell access to compromised systems. Meanwhile, most businesses operate in silos, unaware that the same attack hitting them was stopped by another company weeks earlier.
The numbers are stark. Cyberattacks rose 30% in 2024. Once inside, attackers start spreading through your network in just 48 minutes on average. The fastest recorded? 51 seconds.
Your business can’t outpace that alone. But what if you had access to real-time warnings from thousands of other organisations facing the same threats?
That’s what collaboration offers.
Proof That Sharing Works
The biggest wins against cybercrime all have one thing in common: teamwork.
INTERPOL’s Operation Synergia II ran from April to August 2024. Law enforcement from 95 countries worked alongside security companies like Trend Micro and Kaspersky. Together, they shut down over 22,000 malicious servers and made 41 arrests.
Operation Serengeti followed in late 2024, targeting online fraud across Africa. The result: 1,200 arrests and $100 million recovered. It worked because INTERPOL connected police, private firms, and research groups, with each contributing pieces of the puzzle.
This isn’t just about catching criminals. It’s proof that shared intelligence stops attacks faster.
The Shadowserver Foundation has done this for twenty years. They send free daily threat alerts to over 7,000 organisations in 175 countries. When Saudi Arabia’s cyber agency spotted compromised devices, they shared the information with Shadowserver. Within hours, thousands of businesses worldwide had patched the same vulnerability before hackers could exploit it.
One company’s discovery became everyone’s protection.
What Your Business Can Do Today
You don’t need a big budget to join this network. Here’s where to start.
Tap into free platforms. MISP (Malware Information Sharing Platform) is open-source and used by governments and businesses globally. It lets you receive threat alerts and share what you’re seeing with trusted partners, automatically.
Join regional groups. In Southeast Asia, Shadowserver works with cybersecurity agencies in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand to share threat data for free. Similar initiatives exist across Africa, the Middle East, and beyond.
Connect with your national CERT. In Brunei, BruCERT coordinates with global partners through APCERT, OIC-CERT, and FIRST. Cyber Security Brunei also provides resources for local businesses looking to strengthen their defences.
Ask about partnerships. INTERPOL and many national agencies run formal programmes with private companies, sharing data, exchanging experts, and running joint operations.
Build Sharing Into Your Systems
This isn’t just about joining a group. It’s about how you build your technology.
Your security tools should do more than block threats. They should pull in external intelligence, match it against what’s happening in your network, and flag problems before they spread.
If you’re building custom software, whether it’s an ERP, a customer portal, or an internal app, design it with threat intelligence in mind. Standard logging formats. APIs for threat feeds. Automated alerts. These aren’t nice-to-haves. They’re how modern businesses stay protected.
Companies in the Shadowserver Alliance already do this. Partners like Mastercard, Trend Micro, and Akamai share what they see and receive real-time intelligence in return. Everyone gets stronger.
Your attackers are already collaborating. Why aren’t you?
If you’re ready to build threat intelligence into your systems or need help assessing where your business stands, get in touch with our team.
