InfraGard Gains Ground

Many CIOs need and want to share news of viruses, denial-of-service attacks and other cybercrime events. InfraGard might be just the place. After a slow start, the National Infrastructure Protection Center’s (NIPC) 5-year-old, anonymous, secure, data-sharing project seems to be gathering steam.

Utenzi Corp., a data center outsourcer and corporate ISP in Research Triangle Park, N.C., has several employees who are members of the local InfraGard chapter, according to Chief Technology Officer Mark Nilsson. “It’s a good forum that’s continuing to evolve,” he says. “They’re striving to educate the community.”

The two-way flow of information on InfraGard might surprise IT executives who have heretofore been skeptical of the government’s involvement. InfraGard members monitor a secure channel that shares classified security information gathered from a number of government and corporate sources. “People think, The FBI is sharing information? That’s really odd,” says Doris Gardner, supervisory special agent in charge of the Charlotte, N.C., Regional Computer Crime Squad. “But InfraGard is our attempt to build a partnership; so yes, we’re putting that information out there.” Details on the program, including a list of local chapters, are available at www.infragard.net.