Malaysia/Singapore, 10 September 2009 -- The International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT), the first global public-private initiative for cyber security, recently announced the appointment of Rice Communications as its global communications partner. The team at Rice will support IMPACT with strategic counsel and media relations.

Established in 2008, IMPACT brings together governments, industry leaders and cyber security experts to enhance the global community’s capacity to prevent, defend, and respond to cyber threats. Early this year, the alliance launched its global headquarters (GHQ) in Cyberjaya, Malaysia. The IMPACT GHQ also goes full speed as the operational and physical home of the Global Cybersecurity Agenda, a framework for international cooperation initiated by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Commenting on the appointment, Philip Victor, IMPACT’s head of Communications & Outreach said, “In the short time provided to respond to the brief, Rice demonstrated a thorough understanding of IMPACT’s present and planned positioning and was able to bring fresh ideas to the table. We look forward to working with the team and hit the ground running with a number of key events in the pipeline.”

IMPACT cited the thorough research and audience dipstick surveys that Rice conducted to develop a comprehensive communications proposal revealed invaluable insights into how the alliance’s key publics and stakeholders perceive them.

Rice’s Media Perception Audit covered 15 senior editors, journalists and correspondents in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. The team also connected with analysts and government influencers that yielded interesting results on global cyber security issues.