New York enlists private sector in fight against cyberterrorism

New York Gov. George Pataki has established a task force comprising experts from the public and private sectors to help the state of New York protect its information systems and critical infrastructure against terrorist attacks, the governor's office announced March 8.

The Cyber-Security Task Force will serve under the Office of Public Security, an agency created in October 2001 to oversee state programs and initiatives to counter terrorism. The office is led by former FBI assistant director James Kallstrom.

The work of the task force will be closely coordinated through the State Office for Technology.

The experts who will serve on the task force have not yet been selected, said Carolyn Quartararo, a spokeswoman for the governor.

The task force will perform these functions:

• assure a uniform standard of preparedness for the state's critical systems infrastructure;


• examine vulnerable industry sectors and appraise their vulnerability to catastrophic cyber attack;


• rate and prioritize potential means of cyberterrorism, such as denial of service attacks, intentionally released computer viruses and deliberate hacking; and


• eliminate potential redundancy between private sector and state and federal government initiatives and investment.

The Office for Technology operates an information sharing and analysis center that alerts agencies to threats and vulnerabilities in hardware and software, while the State Police maintain a computer crimes unit capable of leading criminal investigations of computer crimes.

To fund these and other efforts, Pataki requested that the state provide $200 million in funding for the Office of Public Security in fiscal 2002-2003, Quartararo said. The budget is currently under review by the state legislature, she said.

Quartararo said the governor believes it is important to include the private sector in any comprehensive effort to protect information systems and critical infrastructure both throughout the state as well as in New York City, where many of the nation's largest financial institutions and telecommunications companies are based.

"We need to have a very steady partnership with the private sector to get anything substantial done," she said.