New Federal Cybercenter to Fill Info-Sharing Gaps
The federal government is standing up a new cybercenter that will act as the primary organization for analyzing and integrating cyberthreat intelligence and ensuring that data is rapidly shared with the appropriate entities.
The new Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center, or CTIIC (see-tick), will not replace existing cybercenters but will fill current gaps in the government’s information sharing efforts, Lisa Monaco, assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, announced Tuesday, during a speech at the Wilson Center, in Washington, D.C.
“Currently, no single government entity is responsible for producing coordinated cyber threat assessments, ensuring that information is shared rapidly among existing cyber centers and other elements within the government, and supporting the work of operators and policy makers with timely intelligence about the latest cyber threats and threat actors,” Monaco said. “The CTIIC is intended to fill these gaps.”
It will have a staff of about 50 people and an initial budget of $35 million when operations begin, according to Defense News.
CTIIC will do for cyber what the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) does in support of the government’s counterterrorism efforts. NCTC “serves as the central and shared knowledge bank on terrorism information” and “provides all-source intelligence support to governmentwide counterterrorism activities,” according to the NCTC website.
Similar to the NCTC, the new cybercenter will be established under the Director of National Intelligence. Monaco said the CTIIC will
• Integrate intelligence about cyber threats.
• Provide all-source analysis to policymakers and operators.
• Support the work of the existing federal government cybercenters, network defenders and local law enforcement communities.
The new center will not collect intelligence but will analyze and integrate data already collected under existing authorities, Monaco added.
“To the private sector, we’ve made it clear that we will work together,” she explained. “We’re not going to bottle up our intelligence. If we have information about a significant threat to a business, we’re going to do our utmost to share it.”
She used the devastating hack against Sony as an example. Within 24 hours of learning about the attack, the government disseminated information and malware signatures to the private sector, warning them to adapt their cyberdefenses accordingly.
The White House created the Cyber Response Group last summer to serve as an interagency resource about ongoing threats and attacks and to coordinate “all elements of our government’s response at the highest levels,” Monaco said.
