[iwar] [fc:Sharing.key.to.combating.threats]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-24 19:22:02


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Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 19:22:02 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Sharing.key.to.combating.threats]
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Sharing key to combating threats 
By Diane Frank, Federal Computer Week, 10/24/2001
<a href="http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1022/web-gao-10-24-01.asp">http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1022/web-gao-10-24-01.asp>

As awareness about the importance of sharing information about cyber and
physical threats grows following the Sept.  11 terrorist attacks, the
General Accounting Office last week released a report on the best
practices of leading organizations in the public and private sectors. 

The report is in response to a request in May from Sen.  Robert Bennett
(R-Utah), a key supporter of critical infrastructure protection issues
and an advocate for sharing cybersecurity information between the
government and private sector.  Bennett and other members of Congress
have introduced bills this year to promote such sharing. 

GAO reviewed 11 organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, the Federal Computer Incident Response Center (FedCIRC),
the Joint Task Force-Computer Network Operations (JTF-CNO), and the
North American Electric Reliability Council.  FedCIRC serves as the
central warning, analysis and response organization for civilian
agencies, and the JTF-CNO provides that service for the Defense
Department. 

All of these organizations form relationships with members to collect
information on security incidents, analyze potential future weaknesses
and issue alerts on vulnerabilities and attacks. 

The GAO report, and past reviews in related areas, found that
information sharing and coordination are "central to producing
comprehensive and practical approaches and solutions to combating
computer-based threats." But few agencies have formed such mechanisms,
and those that have are still working to become entirely successful,
according to GAO. 

From their experience, GAO outlined several key success factors:

* Developing trust between participants over time through personal
relationships. 

* Establishing effective and secure communications. 

* Getting the support of senior managers at member organizations on the
importance of sharing such potentially sensitive information. 

* Ensuring continuity of leadership within the organization to maintain
focus. 

* Providing identifiable benefits to keep members involved. 

The most difficult challenge is organizations' natural reluctance to
share information on vulnerabilities, GAO reported.  This challenge can
be immediately addressed through the development of clear, written
agreements on information usage and sharing, GAO wrote.  And that
reluctance is reduced over time as members become more familiar with one
other and others' perspectives and pass on their positive experiences to
new members, according to the report. 

GAO report: "Information Sharing: Practices That Can Benefit Critical
Infrastructure Protection" at
<a href="http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0224.pdf">http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0224.pdf>

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