CIO  magazine

December 1, 1998    (pgs 35-43)

Sweat about the Threat


"The FBI is spearheading a new effort to defend
against the ravages of information warfare.  But
are you ready to trust security to the Feds ?"

In February, 1998, the U.S. government launched the
National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC).
It is headquartered in the J. Edgar Hoover Building,
FBI headquarters, in Washington, D.C.

The mission of NIPC is to detect, prevent and respond
to physical and technological threats against the
nation's critical infrastructures: telecommunications,
banking and finance, transportation, electric power,
gas and oil storage and delivery, water supply systems,
emergency services and government operations.

The NIPC is managed by the FBI and comprises
representatives from the departments of Defense,
Treasury, and Energy, the intelligence community,
other federal agencies and state and local governments.

Since its beginnning early this year, the NIPC has
more than 500 investigations in the works, involving
threats against public and private sector facilities.  Its
budget for FY 1999 is $64 million.  It has 125 employees
with 85 from the FBI, and the other 40 from other
government agencies and the private sector.

The NIPC has three primary objectives: (1) warn of
threats, (2) analyze intrusions, and (3) pull the plug on
perpetrators.

One difficulty in helping business however, is convincing
companies to share their secrets.  Companies usually
don't want to share their dirty laundry for fear of
negative publicity (83%), and because they worry that
competitors would use the information to their own
advantage (74%).