Governments and private companies have joined forces to combat cybercriminals

Date: May 20, 2008
Source: Fcw.com
By: Wade-Hahn Chan

About 30 governments and a number of information technology security companies will participate in the nonprofit International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber-Terrorism (IMPACT).

The organization will aggregate participants’ best practices and case studies and develop a template to help governments worldwide deal with cyberthreats. IMPACT will also provide training and security certification.

Howard Schmidt, former vice chairman of President Bush’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, said the coalition is needed to combat a new breed of criminals who attack IT systems worldwide.

“We’ve had national strategies in the U.S. to deal with this issue, but [IMPACT] gives us a broader perspective,” Schmidt said in a conference call today.

IMPACT Chairman Mohd Noor Amin said President Bush has expressed interest in getting the U.S. government involved with the organization. However, there has been no word about who would take charge of that task.

Malaysia Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced IMPACT’s creation at the 2006 World Congress on IT. On May 13, he approved a $13 million grant to fund the organization.

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