Forwarded from: William Knowles <wkat_private> http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2002/0722/web-nipc-07-25-02.asp By Diane Frank July 25, 2002 The National Association of State Chief Information Officers today announced it has signed an agreement with the primary federal infrastructure security analysis and warning center so that individual states can receive alerts on cyber and physical threats. The memorandum of agreement with the National Infrastructure Protection Center creates a formal venue for states to receive quick notification of general and specific warnings issued by the center. The NIPC, an interagency center, works closely with many public and private entities to develop alerts, analysis and assistance on infrastructure threats. It is part of the FBI; President Bush has proposed that the NIPC become part of the planned Homeland Security Department. States interested in receiving the NIPC alerts will sign participation agreements with NASCIO, and they must agree to use any sensitive information with care. The agreement with NIPC is the first step for the state CIOs toward forming a full-featured Interstate Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Interstate ISAC), according to a statement from Rock Regan, CIO of Connecticut and NASCIO president. The formation of such a center is called for in a report on information security in the public sector issued this week by NASCIO and the PricewaterhouseCoopers Endowment for the Business of Government. The Interstate ISAC would follow the pattern of other centers by providing a way for information and intelligence on threats and vulnerabilities to be securely shared between the federal government and the ISAC. Former President Clinton first urged the creation of sector-specific ISACs in May 1998 when he issued Presidential Decision Directive 63, which requires federal agencies to secure the information and physical systems that support the nation's critical infrastructure, such as banking and transportation. The Bush administration has continued to support the formation of ISACs to cooperate with the Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, created by executive order in October 2001. *==============================================================* "Communications without intelligence is noise; Intelligence without communications is irrelevant." Gen Alfred. M. Gray, USMC ================================================================ C4I.org - Computer Security, & Intelligence - http://www.c4i.org *==============================================================* - ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org To unsubscribe email majordomoat_private with 'unsubscribe isn' in the BODY of the mail.
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