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Tech leaders vs. hackers
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January 16, 2001: 2:09 p.m. ET
Microsoft, Oracle reported among companies joining data-sharing alliance
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Nineteen of the leading technology companies in the United States have joined forces to share security data, following a rash of attacks that shut high-profile Web sites last year.
In a non-profit organization they're calling the Information Technology Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or IT-ISAC, these companies said they will cooperate to find ways to protect themselves from hackers by sharing reports of electronic threats, incidents, solutions and countermeasures.
Founding members of the group, which is open to all U.S.-based information technology companies, include software rivals Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates) and Oracle (ORCL: Research, Estimates), telecom giant AT&T (T: Research, Estimates), and chip leader Intel.
Members that discover a new computer virus or other potentially destructive method of breaking through electronic defenses will be able to send detailed warnings to the rest of the group.
The 19 board members, scheduled to meet Tuesday for the first time, eventually will determine how much of that information to share with other industries or the U.S. government, according to Bob Cohen, a spokesman for the group.
Together, the founding companies shared the roughly $750,000 cost to launch IT-ISAC, whose operations will be run by Atlanta's Internet Security Systems Inc.
Membership in the IT-ISAC is open to all U.S.-based information technology companies for a membership fee of roughly $5,000, Cohen said.
In February 2000, Web sites run by eBay (EBAY: Research, Estimates) and Amazon.com (AMZN: Research, Estimates) were shut to Web traffic for hours because of "junk traffic" aimed at the company's computers, tying them up and preventing nearly all its customers from making purchases.
At the same time, a spate of hacker attacks on federal computer systems prompted the Clinton Administration to launch an initiative to protect the U.S. against potential terrorist attacks via critical computer systems.
In the final report of the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection, the Administration recommended advanced a public-private sector plan for critical infrastructure protection.
The formation of IT-ISAC is the next step in an ongoing industry-and-government partnership aimed at improving network security and reliability, Cohen said. 
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