04 October 1999


 
Text: Federal Reserve on Cyber-Terrorism, Cyber-Crime
 
(Supports public-private information exchange center) (360)

A member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,
Roger Ferguson, says the Fed supports the creation of a financial
information exchange center to protect the U.S. banking and financial
services industry from terrorists and criminals.

In a press release October 1, Ferguson said the center will foster
cooperation between the government and private sector by providing
information and analysis on computer attacks, threats, and security
vulnerabilities.

Ferguson said the center will build on the close cooperation between
regulators and the industry to prepare for the year 2000 computer date
change.

"By working on the century date change, we have a better understanding
of the risks posed to mission-critical systems and the essential
business processes that rely on these systems," Ferguson said.

Following is the text of the press release:

(begin text)

October 1, 1999 

Statement of Roger W. Ferguson, Jr. Member, Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System

The Federal Reserve supports the creation of the Financial Services
Information Sharing and Analysis Center in response to the President's
directive to protect our nation's banking and financial services from
the threat of physical and cyber attacks.

The public and private sectors must work together to counter this
threat. The center will foster private-public cooperation by
permitting the timely analysis of and reliable exchange of information
on computer attacks, threats and security vulnerabilities.

The creation of the center couldn't be coming at a more opportune
time. It builds on the close cooperation between financial service
providers and their regulators that has characterized the preparation
for the rollover to the Year 2000. By working on the century date
change, we have a better understanding of the risks posed to
mission-critical systems and the essential business processes that
rely on these systems. We've learned to develop plans for maintaining
business continuity and exchanging information if something goes
wrong. This is exactly what we must do to protect the financial
infrastructure so vital to our country's economic health from
disruption by terrorists or criminals.

(end text)