New National Information Protection Center announced, FBI infrastructure intrusion detection program included

US Attorney General Janet Reno recently announce a new National Information Protection Center (NPIC). This will be an interagency center initially including personnel from the FBI, Secret Service, and Departments of Defense, Energy, and Transportation. Private sector companies are also expected to take a role. One element is a recent program by the FBI to allow real-time intrusion-detection. This is intended to help protect infrastructure elements such as the electrical power grid and telecommunications systems which are operated by the private sector. The plan is to allow digitally signed reports to be sent to an FBI server, which then anonymizes them and disseminates the information to other program participants. (From reports in Federal Computer Week by Heather Harreld and Torsten Busse)