Partnership makes recommendations on cybersecurity warnings

Private-sector cybersecurity experts called March 18 for the creation of an early warning alert network to generate and share information needed to dispel cyberattacks on the nation's critical infrastructure.

The National Cyber Security Partnership Task Force on Early Warning called a network that would cross industry boundaries and disciplines to ensure that critical information about cyberthreats is delivered to people who can prevent and mitigate them and fix systems that have been attacked.

"Information sharing is a critical component of cybersecurity," said task force Chairman Guy Copeland, a vice president at Computer Sciences Corp. of El Segundo, Calif. "But as we analyzed the good work now being performed by government agencies and private-sector organizations, we did not see a mechanism that would foster exchange across industry boundaries and professional disciplines. We believe that [the network] will become the resource for trusted community-to-community communication."

Several industry groups lead the task force: the Business Software Alliance, the Information Technology Association of America, TechNet and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The task force also asked the federal government to form a National Crisis Coordination Center by 2006. The center would coordinate analysis, warning, response, training and research and development among critical infrastructure experts and federal, state and local governments. The center would focus on fixing myriad vulnerabilities in national infrastructures, not just cybersecurity, the task force said.

More information on the National Cyber Security Partnership can be found at www.cyberpartnership.org.