DOJ And FTC Release Joint Antitrust Policy Statement Regarding Sharing Of Cybersecurity Information

On April 10, 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") and the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") issued an Antitrust Policy Statement on Sharing of Cybersecurity Information explaining that competitors can share legitimate threat information so long as appropriate safeguards are in place to limit the exchange of competitively-sensitive information.¹  The Cybersecurity Policy Statement recognizes that private parties play an important role in preventing cyber-attacks and that sharing cybersecurity information has the potential to "improve security, integrity, and efficiency of the nation's information systems."²

Key Takeaways

• U.S. antitrust authorities generally view the sharing of cybersecurity information as valuable to protecting companies' networks against cyber-attacks, and, thus, regulators likely will not investigate such information sharing for antitrust violations.