The FBI's Computer Investigations and Infrastructure Threat Assessment
Center (CITAC) was created in July 1996 to
coordinate, program, and manage investigations involving computer crimes and
national security and terrorist cyber threats to the national infrastructure.
With the establishment of CITAC, the FBI recognized that the formation of
alliances with both the public and private sectors was absolutely necessary to
ensure a free flow of critical knowledge, as well as to coordinate responses to
attacks on critical infrastructure components.
In the summer of 1996, the Cleveland field office of the FBI asked computer
security professionals in the Cleveland area to
meet with the FBI to discuss ways for the FBI and industry to work together to
prevent, and when necessary, investigate attacks on the information
infrastructure. This and subsequent meetings led to the establishment of
InfraGard in the Cleveland area. Since then, InfraGard has been established in
other field offices around the country.
InfraGard is a cooperative effort to exchange
information between the business community, academic institutions, the FBI and
other government agencies. The goal of Infragard is to ensure the protection of
the information infrastructure through the referral and dissemination of
information regarding illegal intrusions, disruptions, and exploited
vulnerabilities of information systems.
Now implemented, the FBI's involvement in
InfraGard has three components. An Alert Network provides timely information to
security professionals in the private sector to aid in the protection of their
own systems. A website has been established to provide information related to
computer security and information infrastructure protection and provides links
to other information security websites. Additionally, the InfraGard Help Desk,
located at the National Infrastructure Protection Center, assists InfraGard
members and FBI field offices with program issues, technical advice about
InfraGard systems, and furnishes administrative support for local
chapters.