NEWS ROOM | Press Releases
For immediate release: July 25, 2002
Contact: Beth Roszman
NASCIO Signs Information Sharing Agreement with NIPC
(Lexington, KY) - NASCIO, representing chief information officers of the states, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC). The agreement will allow participating states to begin receiving sensitive alerts regarding cyber and physical terrorism threats. NASCIO believes that providing the states with this resource is the first step toward a full-featured Interstate Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Interstate ISAC).
"The Memorandum of Understanding we signed today recognizes the necessity for a robust and timely exchange of essential information about cyber and physical threats to the state's critical infrastructures," said Rock Regan, CIO of Connecticut and President of NASCIO. "As the custodians of their states' critical information assets and coordinators of statewide information sharing, CIOs have been working closely with homeland security teams, and this agreement will provide a very valuable resource to a wide range of state critical infrastructure protection efforts. Over time NASCIO will work with the states and federal partners, such as NIPC, to develop this Interstate ISAC function into a national model for two-way trusted exchange of information in order to analyze and disseminate actionable intelligence on threats, attacks, vulnerabilities, anomalies, and security best practices involving the continuity of state governments."
NASCIO will be signing participation agreements with states interested in receiving the alerts. As part of the agreement, states will agree to handle and disseminate the substance of NIPC alerts appropriately within their enterprises. NASCIO will support its Interstate ISAC function utilizing staff and volunteer support.
NASCIO is the National Association of State Chief Information Officers and represents the state chief information officers from the 50 states, six U.S. territories and the District of Columbia. Other IT officials participate as associate members and private sector representatives may become corporate members. The mission of the association is to shape national IT policy through collaborative partnerships, information sharing and knowledge transfer across jurisdictional and functional boundaries.
Established in February 1998, the NIPC's (http://www.nipc.gov) mission is to serve as the U.S. government's focal point for threat assessment, warning, investigation, and response for threats or attacks against our critical infrastructures. These infrastructures, which include telecommunications, energy, banking and finance, water systems, government operations, and emergency services, are the foundation upon which our industrialized society is based.
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For more information contact Chris Dixon at 859-514-9148 or Matt Trail at 859-514-9212.
Association Management Resources, Inc. (AMR) provides NASCIO's executive staff. For more information visit the AMR website at www.amrinc.net.
