Features:

CYBER SECURITY AT THE TOP OF CATA'S BUSINESS AGENDA

The Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATAAlliance), as part of its Homeland Security Task Force, announced the creation of a Cyber Security Resource Centre (CSRC), designed to enhance homeland security by characterizing threats to Canada's information infrastructure. These threats come from increasing incidents of malicious code (viruses, worms, Trojans) and focused attacks.

The first step in this initiative is the launch of the CATA CanCERTTM Alliance. CanCERTTM will support CATA by acting as the trusted third party for collection, anonymization and consolidation of cyber-incidents reported by the community.

CATAAlliance President, John Reid, said "According to a recent CATA survey, online security is a concern for more than 80% of the reporting companies, with security of information and protection from unauthorized access to data leading the list. We are calling on business and government organizations across Canada to report cyber incidents so that we can better develop strategies and best practices for secure business operations on the Internet."

Central to the activities of the CSRC is a repository for reports about cyber incidents and attacks having an impact on Canadians. The Centre will issue monthly and annual reports covering the threats, incidents and resources available to improve cyber threat management.

"We intend to address critically related policy, information management, best practice, and education and training issues," noted Reid.

CATA Board member, Jim Robbins, President, Electronic Warfare Associates - Canada (EWA-Canada) added, "Our goal is to mitigate the impact of potential threats and provide assurance that the private sector is contributing to our national security. As our society becomes more reliant on networked infrastructures, industry needs to take a more proactive role in understanding the threats and provide assurance to all e-business stakeholders that Canada is not a weak link or a back door for threats to a globally networked economy. In a network-of-networks all levels of government, business and academia are relying on each other for a safe cyber environment."

The CATA Survey highlighted the increased dependence on IT in all aspects of our daily lives. The cyber threat could therefore cripple not only our information systems, but threaten our physical security systems as well. As we saw in August, even an accident can cause havoc to our electrical system.

It's reported that the energy and power sector suffered more cyber attacks than any other sector in February of 2003, and 70% of those attacks were rated as "severe". The malicious cyber activities that occurred coincident with the August blackout were a major distraction during the power outage and its impact on the outage and the restoration continues to be a topic of speculation. A recent article found in "Wired News" - The Internet is a Very Sick Place - provides a summary of the events of 2003 and predicts that 2004 will see these trends continue.

CATA's response to cope with these trends is to reach out to, and forge strategic alliances, partnerships, and collaborations with and among, diverse public and private-sector stakeholders.

"This led us to forge our partnership with CanCERTTM, a service provided by EWA-Canada that tracks and reports on cyber incidents involving Canadians," said Reid.

Many of these reported incidents are from international teams that are members of a global affiliation known as the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST). EWA-Canada was the first Canadian member of FIRST, an organization that has grown to over 140 teams worldwide.

"One of our goals is to extend our network of shared knowledge, so we can alert the various Canadian information communities about the new threats to their systems. We look forward to working with CATAAlliance to identify the extent of malicious cyber activities in Canada and to share lessons learned."

"Ultimately, Canada's cyber security industry should become a globally-known model of best practices. This achievement will not only open trade doors, particularly in the U.S. but also add to Canada's export and job creation success," Robbins concluded.

About CATAAlliance:

CATAAlliance is a business development association dedicated to stimulating global growth for technology enterprises through the promotion of strategic partnerships, technological innovation and entrepreneurial values. More information about CATA can be found on the CATA Web site: http://www.cata.ca/.