National Cyber Alert System Goes Into Effect

"We are moving beyond simply response and alerting into a more proactive stance with respect to cyber-security," says Amit Yoran, director of the National Cyber-Security Division of the DHS.

Yoran says on any given day, upward of 30 cyberthreats are monitored; the goal is to prioritize their threat levels as they relate to national security overall. That includes the potential impact of cyber-threats to core infrastructure, such as the nation's power grid. The information is targeted at individual consumers, business customers and the IT community, including vendors and solution providers.

DHS will issue security alerts for two core constituents: technical and nontechnical users. They can sign up for real-time e-mail alerts that include information on vulnerabilities. NCSD will also release tip sheets every two weeks. The system will be managed by the U.S. Community Emergency Response Team. Anyone can sign up at www.us-cert.gov.

Yoran says the the system does not compete with the efforts under way by security vendors and, in fact, companies such as Network Associates and Symantec are collaborating with NCSD.

"We expect to further evolve and enhance our ties with the private sector and exchange information with our sources for cyber-attack and cyber-alert information," Yoran says.