Government, industry unveil security initiative

Joined by Commerce Secretary Norman Mineta and the Clinton administration's top critical infrastructure officials, 19 top information technology companies Tuesday announced the formation of an information-sharing center designed to help them combat hackers and computer-security intrusions. Dubbed the Information Technology Information Sharing and Analysis Center (IT-ISAC), the center will permit participating technology companies to confidentially exchange information about new computer viruses and hacker attacks. "We cannot sit idly by and let [the Internet] be a target for hackers," said Mineta, who will serve as transportation secretary to the incoming Bush administration. "One of the things we can do is to agree to share information on best security and potential threats to the information network." "What we are doing today is sending a strong signal to would-be attackers that we are not going to let you get away with cyber terrorism," Mineta said. The IT-ISAC is the fourth industry group to form a coordinating center to address computer-security concerns, a step called for by a May 1998 Clinton administration presidential directive. The financial, telecommunications and electric-power industries also have formed such centers. "These ISACs are basically computer defense centers for the various sectors of the economy, where industry will cooperate with each other and where the U.S. government can share information with them," said Richard Clarke, national coordinator for security, infrastructure protection and counter-terrorism. Clarke said the government could even transmit classified information through the ISACs in the future. But given that most computer networks and the ISAC are run by the private sector, for the time being it would largely serve as a bridge for transmitting information between companies, he noted. "We are in no small part the architect, bricklayer and traffic cops on the Internet," said Mary Ann Davidson, security product manager at Oracle. "Every one of us either has been or will be attacked in cyberspace. We can respond in unison to threats." Among the 19 founding members of IT-ISAC are Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Computer Sciences Corp., Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Oracle. The Information Technology Association of America, which served as the sector coordinator for the high-tech industry's involvement in protecting computer networks, shepherded the IT-ISAC's formation. It contracted with the Atlanta-based Internet Security Systems to house and run the physical center.