In a ceremony on April 15, 2013, 11 major companies formally established partnerships with the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE). The center is a public-private partnership hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It works with industry, academic and government experts to find practical solutions for businesses' most pressing cybersecurity needs.
Representatives from the new partner companies-Cisco Systems Inc., Hewlett-Packard, HyTrust Inc., Intel Corp., McAfee Inc., Microsoft Federal Civilian Services, RSA, Splunk Inc., Symantec Corp., Vanguard Integrity Professionals and Venafi Inc.-pledged to contribute hardware and software components and share best practices and personnel with the center. U.S. businesses and organizations face daily threats to their data and systems. According to industry surveys, in 2011 more than 174 million records were compromised worldwide, costing businesses billions of dollars and threatening privacy and consumer confidence.
The NCCoE was formed through a Memorandum of Understanding between the state of Maryland, Montgomery County and NIST. U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski, U.S. Cyber Command Commander/National Security Agency (NSA) Director General Keith B. Alexander, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, Montgomery County Chief Executive Isiah Leggett and Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Patrick Gallagher participated in the signing ceremony at the NCCoE's facilities in Rockville, Md.
"Cybersecurity is one of the toughest technical challenges facing the nation today," said Under Secretary Gallagher. "NIST looks forward to working with these top private-sector companies and our state and federal partners in Maryland to help the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence jump-start its work to better protect our vital IT infrastructure and business information."
For more, see the April 15, 2013, NIST news announcement, "Industry Partners Join the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence."
